Episode 5 Super League Show

Hello. It was one of those weeks where just about every match in

Round 5 had an incredible story attached to it. Rugby League

proving itself to be unpredictable. Iestyn Harris and Robbie Hunter-

Paul are here to make sense of the week's events. Here's what's coming

It's a battle in black and white as Hull FC travel to Widnes Vikings.

There's a clash of the Super League titans as St Helens host Leeds. And

going back to the beginning. Wigan's Sean O'Loughlin finds his

We start with the developments at Salford, whose coach Phil Veivers

was relieved of his duties on Sunday. The City Reds have lost

four of their opening five games, and have won just once since the

end of July. Robbie, you're a former Salford player. They have a

new ambitious owner. This is not surprising. To be honest, you would

expect something like this to be on the cards. At this time of the

season, you always tend to see something is going to happen. Maybe

the supporters are calling for it, maybe they have some body lined up.

That's the big question. I am a little bit surprised. You have to

have a huge sympathy for Phil Veivers. He had no squad and could

not recruit anybody. It's very, very harsh in my opinion. He had a

lot to deal with it. The club were in administration for months and

months. No recruitment. It's very difficult, there's a lot of doubt

between the players. A lot of his time would been spent giving them

confidence to keep working because the season was coming around. Five

games in and he lost his job. I think it's very hard. I feel for

Salford did not look great, did they? No, they didn't. There wasn't

a lot in the game between the two sides. We played London last week.

They played extremely well in that game and started to find some form.

They are going to score plenty of points. Phil did not deserve to

lose his job after this. They won last week and should have had more

confidence going into this. Going into this one, I think they had a

bit of disruption. Jodi was stuck in traffic. They had to make some

last minute changes. That type of thing never helps the team in their

preparations going into a match. Jodi was the player of the season

last year and does a lot of work coming in off the edge. A great

player. Yes, you can expect them to grow a bit. Maybe there was some

uncertainty hanging over the club which rubbed off on the players

themselves. Maybe this is not as big a shock as we think. Maybe

these things have been going on in the system and at the start of the

Who next? That's a very difficult question. The usual suspects. It's

a good job to get. You would expect a big name? A big name? There's

plenty of big-name players being bandied around. You would expect a

big-name coach to come in. It's going to be a difficult job because

they are a club who want instant success. To get instant success,

you have got to work at it. Machin will want to do the World

Cup Down Under. Yes, he wants to do the world Cup and then Super League

is an option for him. There is a lot of work to do. They want some

stability there and to get some performances in the next few weeks

before they think about the long- term future. I bet his CV is going

to Salford. Widnes fans have finally had the chance to see Kevin

Brown in their famous black and white colours. The former

Huddersfield half back made his injury-delayed debut for the

Vikings on Saturday night, when Hull were the visitors to the

Stobart Stadium. Widnes coach Denis Betts was delighted to have Brown

available, but remained a little cautious. The boost of Kevin Brown

coming into the side is going to be huge. You have got to be careful

about what impact he is going to have. He will have impact on the

side. He has not played for a long time. He has been out of the

training environment for a couple of months because of his ankle

injury. It's going to take time for him to bed in. He will be a big

their first home win of this new season. It is a Hull side looking

to recover from the second half capitulation against Warrington

last week. Kevin Brown makes his long awaited debut for Widnes

on the ball in these early stages so a big test for them. Here is

Danny Hutton from dummy half. He has kept it alive. They are

queueing up. It's a question of who. He gets the night's first try. It

was all too easy here for Hull. Warner does well to get in the way.

Westerner takes his chance. Here is Clarke. It has been lively stuff so

far, hasn't it? Magner looking wider still. Into the hands of

Paddy Flynn, who is over. Crashing in, Paddy Flynn. Try confirmed.

Widnes had their response. Flynn with a very good finish given the

number of defenders there trying to Danny Hutton. Squeezing into the

left-hand side. Second try for Hull. Looks like they are meaning

business here tonight. They have silenced this home crowd. One of

their close season signings with of this defence. It is intercepted

here by Paddy Flynn. Not so much as intercepted as thrown to him. The

chase is on. Flynn moves away and scores a length of the field to try

to send the home crowd into raptures. Apart from a 90 minutes

or so he had to run, this was a gift. Just thrown into his hands by

Seymour. Paddy Flynn had to put his foot down and finish. A really good

chase. He came a long way but could not quite get there. Flynn, with

Hull. You can see that two of them standing shoulder to shoulder. You

can't do that. He gets a penalty. Gareth Hock. Terrific. Phelps with

the corner. Has he got there? We remember last season. The corner

flag was not in play but look at the end. But here Gareth Hock gets

the opening in the first place. Was this a good enough finish? The feet

again. Where is it coming down? Into the hands of Chris Dean. Kevin

Brown's kick. Dean with the catch. Flat footed. There were plenty in

white but what a determination from side. Kevin Brown has gone down and

he looks to be in a bad way. Have a look at this. Johnson's swinging

leg accidentally caught Kevin Brown and it looks like he might have

played his last here. That is worrying for Denis Betts that his

big signing is being helped off. Clarke. It is another chance. It is

another try for Phelps. Second of the night for him. Three tries

unanswered in the second half for Widnes. They are moving closer and

closer to the promised land of pace. And a good finish, too. They

are having a look again here. Obstruction. Was the defender

jumping into the attacker there? Horne appeared around the back of

it. Phil Bentham. They are going to roll this on to the ground. The

referee looks like he's happy with the obstruction. This should be a

Hull try. It is, and they are back in the game again. Here is Clarke.

Cross standing to his right. He wants that ball. He pushes a couple

away. He is over! Again, there is a question to be posed about the

grounding this time. That looks OK. And the try is confirmed. It was

less than OK here. It was Hull's a go from dummy half. Hull hanging

on, just about keeping him at bay. Gareth Hock looks like he might

have got the ball over. The referee is not sure. Have a look at the

ground, he says. Double movement is a possibility. Gareth Hock again, a

bundle of energy as he reaches for the line. Desperately trying to

keep him away. Was that a double moment? The referee says no. Gareth

Hock has his try and confirmation that witness will have their first

A cracking win, Iestyn. A very good win, they finished bottom of the

pile last year, two wins this time, moving forward. They look as though

they have improved from the season before. It is looking positive for

them. First game back, a nasty ankle injury. Very tough for Widnes,

especially Kevin, looking at the social media, a lot of the players

were wishing him the best of luck. An operation during the off-season,

first game back. A marquee player, like they mention. Obviously going

into the game, he was unlucky, the next one around, it's the ankle,

really bad, and I think it is the same one he had the operation on in

the first place, so I am disappointed for him. Iestyn, we

saw the good and not so good side of Gareth Hock. A mercurial player.

On his day, he is very good, look at the float, that is him at his

best. We know he can do that. He does have a tendency to give away

silly penalties, but it is a very good signing for the club. He is

one of the players who can score Peter Gentle was extremely damning

of his players afterwards, some familiar faces making the same

mistakes, time to bring in players who will get the message. Tough

words. He is setting out his stable, saying, guys, you have got to step

up. Missing two marquee players, he has got it tough, Gareth Ellis back

from Down Under, injured in the opening game, during the warm-up,

and that is a big hole in their side. But he expects more from the

players he has got at the moment. If you look at the statistics, they

got out to a great start, they let the game slip from them, and that

is really disappointing. Seymour was involved in a car crash at the

weekend, his injuries are not thought to be life-threatening, but

we wish him a speedy recovery. Hull KR were hoping for an improvement

on the early form, one win from four, Warrington travelled east,

and it was the result of the They have been under pressure, Hull

KR, they have been feeling it internally, so this is a great win

for them. Warrington hit back, licking their wounds a little bit,

a few players out, but they have still got some great players,

They had enough players to win the game, so they will be disappointed,

Warrington did take the lead, but Hull KR just took over, didn't

they? What a difference a week makes, off the back of last weekend,

there were calls for the manager to go, but he has been able to turn

them around. Hull KR, traditionally over the last few years, they have

been unpredictable at the beginning of the season, then they come

They defended really strongly. defended really well, to get to the

top eight, you have to have He is very calm, a very experienced

A mixed weekend for the whole clubs, we are three games into our review.

Huddersfield Giants enjoyed four from four to get their weekend off

to a flying start, but it did not Bradford got off to a dream start

at the John Smith Stadium against half minutes gone at the John Smith

Stadium, and the Bradford Bulls their first points of the afternoon.

It looks like Joe Wardle has scored thanks to this close finish, but

what a try for the Bradford Bulls, over, it looks like he has just

Carney sold the dummy and went over. The try has been given! Bradford's

momentum continued into the second half, the Giants' backline easily

area, and the Giants look like they have put this one down, and they

have, try given. Is the comeback on? Any hopes of a late surge was

with a hat-trick. A great win for the Bradford Bulls, and an end to

A great win that was being described for Bradford. A great win,

not to put it into context, Bradford turned up on the day and

were really hungry. I think he must have had a word about their

performance the week before against Saint Helens, they were a different

team today, so respectful of the ball. Huddersfield did not, they

made a lot of knock-ons, but Bradford held the ball, and when

opportunities came, they pounced upon them. They were really

aggressive and took the game to the Giants, and that surprised them.

Jarrod Sammut was fantastic, not just his three tries. He was all

over the place, he is very unpredictable. We talked about

Gareth Hock being unpredictable, but he is unpredictable in a

different sense, he kicks, he chips, he is the first person to the

breakdown, trying things all the time. He's the one player who

played outside the system on the weekend. Jarrod Sammut's play comes

off, he looks great. All credit to Bradford, they really came out with

a great game plan, they took it to the Giants and got their reward in

the end. Paul Anderson has not been pulling his punches, he saw this

one coming with their performances. The Giants started their season on

top form, came away from Saint Helens with a great win, but then

they have been trailing off. Great defensive display against Wigan,

but a tough game against Wakefield last week, he said that the better

team lost. This week, just to reinforce that, they need to get

back into that up cycle. It is going to be a very big week for the

Giants, because they have got the champions at Headingley. Wigan had

a tough trip on Saturday, Castleford was their destination,

and it was just as tough as you thought it was going to be. It was,

there have been a couple of scalps already. Leeds have been to

Castleford and lost, Catalans came away with a draw, so we knew it was

going to be tough. We scored some nice tries, and by half-time we

were into a reasonably comfortable lead. We came out in the second

half a little bit down on energy, some of the plays in the second

half, a try from Chris Tuson, they I thought Carney was excellent for

Castleford on the day. This brought them back into it at half-time, but

we felt as if we were in full control. Jake Webster on the other

side, they have made some good Some very good signings, with the

When you have got that type of experience, you come up with what

Webster has just done. They were very difficult to stop when they

got on the front foot. Very impressed by Justin Carney, I have

not seen him live before. When he got this ball and brushed two

defenders off, he did that several times in the afternoon. We were

talking about him this morning, saying how physical he was. He

should not have been able to score that, he twists and turns and gets

himself over. We are very lucky here, a little bit of fortune when

it hits the post, but this is what Wigan has been about, finding a way

A great match-winning try for us. You have got a few players out

injured, how do you feel it is going? It is going really well.

Smith is doing exceptionally well, finding the system, maturing into

the system. We are using a lot of youngsters, which is great for us

long-term. We are all about trying to get to the finals, and to be

able to do that you have to have a squad and a group of players that

you can trust. The only way you can get that is by allowing youngsters

to play. We are coming up with results which are really important

for us. There are few things that fans like to see more than a

homegrown hero leading their team to glory. A vast number of

graduates, past and present from the Saint Patrick's amateur club,

and he has risen to the very top of I have always wanted to play for

Wigan. It is great that I have had the opportunity to play with them.

The production line at Saint Patrick's is a source of great

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 79 seconds

All the kids look up to him. It doesn't just stop with the players.

So many great players. You should have seen him boxing! I have a lot

of memories from my time here. At Big Bang cue to the club and,

really. He passed his 300 game marked guiding his new-look team to

an impressive start. We lost a lot of good players this year. There is

probably at timing all clubs when you start to lose those players,

then it is up to the young lads to I think he's doing a great job at

the moment. He's always doing well in training on the physical side of

things. He has been put in a really good position. We don't feel like

we're anywhere near at our best this season. We've had a few wins

and a draw against Warrington. Rather disappointing to come from

behind. Both teams could probably go on to win the game but we are

picking up wins and if we can keep doing that, I think it will be a

good shout. They're doing fantastic work particularly cross the North

of England but Sean O'Loughlin is not one of the big characters.

an unsung hero for you guys? Yes, everyone talks about experience

being so important. You need to play to have experience at Bath on

the physical capabilities. He is at the peak of his career and playing

exceptionally good form for us this year. He is the main leader who

leads from the front. Sensational yesterday and he has come right the

way through the system and that's what Wigan has been, as a club for

a long period of time. Allowing players to mature at the right age,

give them time to become the top league players that they are.

was Wakefield's turn to head to the South of France and a Saturday

night date with Catalan Dragons. This one could have gone either way,

game. Wakefield went in with a lot of confidence. The game itself was

even toned. Giving away to Catalan is never easy. Every player will

always say how to put it. In the middle of winter here, it's quite

warm over there, and the fact of that makes the situation a bit

different. It becomes a tough place to play. The environment you're

playing in is quite volatile, as well. The French fans really get

behind the team and the atmosphere is very different from Britain.

0, and then Catalan came back at them. I think so. They went into

the game with a lot of conference coming of that loss against

Huddersfield last week. Maybe Catalan took their foot off the

pedal. But obviously, they are classy. International French

players as well as a host of good, experienced players from Super

League and down under. Leon Pryce had a marvellous game as well. They

will be game out of the bag. Looking at a lot of the games this

weekend, a lot of teams had to come from behind. He has been a great

player from them down the years. He's definitely one of the go to

men and one of those players they have who has matured over the Super

League years. Everything is created around him and he has the X Factor

as well. He can go to the line and make the right pass. Scott is back

with them training. Brilliant news but I hope he's not there this week

though, because we are playing them. For Wakefield, they played all

right, didn't they? Yes, they did. They haven't got points from the

two games because they have performed very well so I think they

will take that and create momentum going forward. Friday saw St Helens

take on Leeds in what is always one of the marquee fixtures on the

Super League calendar. The Rhinos have beaten Saints in four of the

last six Grand Finals. But their last visit to Langtree Park left

them with red faces to go with their red hair, after a real horror

show. I can guarantee we won't try expect on a night like this?

Gardner! An absolutely prodigious win. John Lomax! Are they are

celebrating now. This is a tough night for Leeds. St Helens looking

to shift again. Everybody is on tackles in the bag here, Leeds, so

it's safe to have a position to be in there. Jones runs it forward and

St Helens are caught offside. Here is the man who did not go back far

enough and Kevin Sinfield is selecting to kick for goal here.

They are going to take the two. Not getting back the full distance

before he came back out again. Kevin Sinfield to open the scoring

for Leeds. It should be relatively simple, and it is straightforward.

Lomax! He has somehow found a way through. There seemed to be enough

Leeds defenders there to make sure they could score. He put enough

doubts in enough minds to make sure Peacock, he's having a good start

to the season, Jamie Peacock. The referee has lost patience and it's

another penalty for Leeds. Decided there was too much hanging on in

hold. Kevin Sinfield has again elected to go for two here. This

will put Leeds level. Slipping away, St Helens, the lead. Two points at

Sinfield with the dummy. Plenty in support. McGuire. In at the corner.

Is there a question of a foot in touch? The referee says no and the

try is given. James Buchanan with the offload. A little dummy making

it bigger. Soft hands and a very good finisher. It's been a real

tough game here tonight. It remains just 8-4. Maguire's kick might have

been taken late there. Was that a knock-on? The referee says play on.

He's over. There was a little trouble at the end. Offside and

grounding are the questions. There is no doubt there that they are on

side. The touch is from McCarthy. The ball went to the ground. So he

picked it up safely enough. Now, what about the grounding? That

looks fine. It looks fine. Leeds put daylight between themselves and

tries to take them on. A little bit of confusion for the St Helens

defenders. That retreating defence Ryan to score his second. What a

big, big try that will prove to be. And an excellent team try it was,

too. In his electrifying bobbing and weaving style. Look how well he

does here. He proves himself a class act at centre this season and

a classic finish for Hall. It just gets worse for St Helens. Wheeler

is injured and looking a little here. Watkins. He does well to keep

the ball alive. He's going for his hat-trick here. I think the referee

thinks it was as well, but it's not. Not entirely sure. Well, he has

lost that ball. It bounces back into his hands but he loses it

again just for good measure. No try. Easy decision for the video referee

for Leeds. They go back 12 months to what happened on this ground.

Leeds got humiliated but now has got ample revenge. Percival. The

pass away. In at the corner. Too late to really matter. Too late to

produce much of a celebration. Just a hint of satisfaction from a St

Helens point of view. Percival showed could composure here. Very

nearly put the pass behind but he found a bit of space again. Still

there. He will go. Nelly finishes. Two in a blink of an eye. But again,

much, much too late to make a difference to the outcome of the

game. Great footwork by Percival. And again, just causing confusion

amongst the Leeds defenders but it won't matter. It's an eye-catching

way for St Helens to finish their night but it will undoubtedly be

It wasn't one of the classic encounter between them but Leeds

pretty much set the stall out, didn't they? Yes, they did.

Following on from the week before, the intensity, it's a mentality

Leeds like to have. Get in front. Lead from the front and they did

that all evening. I thought the intensity they played, St Helens

struggled to match it and they are probably setting the benchmark at

the moment. Playing extremely well. They seem to be going back down the

left too. A great combination for them. They are glued together

really well. He puts up a good show when he gets the ball in his hands.

I like this man. He's from Down Under. A great turn of pace. Good

footwork as well. You need someone like that to finish the try off.

Get it over the try-line every single time. Absolutely brilliant.

St Helens have some injury problems as well. Nathan Brown, I'm not in

the camp, but he's brought a different mentality to the players.

It takes a while to gel. With the injuries he's had as well, it takes

longer. Nathan Brown is extremely experienced as a coach, and I'm

sure they will hit some form quickly. Peacock is like a fine

wine. Yes, he didn't play international last year and had

time off. He says he is as fresh as he ever has been. Putting you to

shame, isn't he? So a significant victory for Leeds. Let's see how

the weekend's results have affected the standings in the Super League

Join us again next week for the You can catch up on the BBC iPlayer.

It's been a great effort of matches this weekend. Absolutely wonderful.

Predictably unpredictable. there a standard one for you,

Iestyn? Not particularly. Hull against Warrington. Our result was

pretty good as well. Castleford got back to 22-22. Pretty good for us.