26/06/2017 Super League Show

Hello.

It's drama all the way this week and a round of matches split

right down the middle.

The top six and the bottom six have gone head-to-head and we have two

from the top to guide us through it.

The Leeds forward Stevie Ward is alongside the Wakefield head

of rugby, John Cainer.

First to Headingley and part three of the 2017 Trilogy between Leeds

and the league leaders, Castleford.

Castleford have started in electrifying fashion.

What a night for the Castleford Tigers.

This is good from Leeds now.

Castleford again.

Leeds put to the sword.

It has been talked up in a grand style ahead of the game

and Headingley is full tonight and thoroughly expectant

of what could be a classic.

Parcell at dummy half.

Leeds looking to strike here, with Sutcliffe

on the right-hand side.

Well, they're in excellent position here.

McGuire, with the testing little grab.

Picked up by Roberts who is still in trouble here.

Roberts.

Oh, what has he done?

What's he done?

He has thrown the ball away for Ash Handley to score.

Well the referee wants another look at this.

Was there a hand on here?

Parcell is in full flight, but does not quite touch it.

Then Ben Roberts, what is he doing here?

He stays in the field of play, there is no doubt about that,

his foot does not touch the whitewash and he passes

to Handley and he is in the field of play and that should be a try

and it is confirmed.

A gift of a score for Leeds.

With eight minutes played.

McShane.

Oh, he has lost it.

The referee says play on.

Play on and another set of 6 for Castleford.

McShane.

As they go left now.

Minikin to Eden, with one of those trademark Greg Eden finishes.

Well a little bit of controversy here.

BLEEP!

Danny McGuire is merely annoyed at what he thought should

have been a knock-on, he has been shown a yellow card

for swearing at the referee.

Was that Parcell's arm that knocked it out or was that the drop?

Either way, the referee said play on, they are looking at this,

the grounding for the video refs and that is fine.

And Castleford are given the score.

McShane.

He is looking left again.

It is the drive by Patrick.

McShane has had plenty of time to look left and right,

he is going to pop out of the whole game and put the little

grubber kick in, which is easily taken by Parcell.

But, it's a penalty for offside against Leeds.

The referee deciding that the defenders there

were up too quickly.

They're not happy on the terraces, they're not happy on the field.

Certainly not those in Leeds colours.

Castleford have a chance to get themselves a lead here and they do.

Luke Gale's kick makes it 8-6.

Shoving away there, McShane at dummy half.

Just steering his players into position and here is Milner.

He is having a terrific season, isn't he?

Adam Milner.

Eventually held up, having occupied their attentions for quite a while,

a kick from Gale goes high in the air.

Briscoe is underneath it, he has dropped it, and Eden will score it.

Well, the referee, immediately is asking a question here.

It's all about whether Alex Foster, he says it is a try here.

Can you check please, whether Alex Foster is within the ten?

Alex Foster is within the ten, so the referee is deciding

he was ahead of the kicker here.

And if he is within ten metres of the man attempting to catch

the ball, he is deemed as offside.

It is a dreadful rule.

Because he is not interfering with play at all but because

he was within the ten, they have to rule the try out.

The sooner they change that rule, the better.

Different interpretation needed, you feel.

Here's Moon.

A little chip and a chase, that is clever.

Gale gets in the way but Moon is still able to pick it up.

McGuire is galloping on here, he has got support as well.

There is a bit of flair here from Leeds.

Briscoe on the inside, Jamie Jones-Buchanan,

wonderful stuff from Leeds.

Well, the hooter sounds.

Leeds carry on, but the referee decides that the hooter had

sounded before the play of the ball was made.

So time is called, in controversial fashion again,

at the end of that first.

I think the referee got it right, though.

Not that they would agree.

Parcell.

Just drilling it downfield to try and put a bit of pressure here.

On Castleford.

Hitchcox, he is the man who is given the responsibility

of bringing it back.

Brought in by Handley.

Here is Webster.

Now Hardaker.

Bouncing around the first couple of defenders,

out past the third and he has got a bit of space here now.

He has only got the full-backs going, he puts the third down

and holds him off and will that be a sweet tasting try

for Zac Hardaker?

Against his parent club.

He scores a smasher!

Real eye-catcher.

Gale.

Going out left.

Minikin.

Testing them again.

It has gone to ground, the referee says play on,

it is still the sixth tackle.

The grubber kick from Gale.

Millington is the man to respond and a big grin on his face.

They are whooping with delight.

But they're asking a question again.

All about whether this is a knock-on or not from Minikin here.

It comes down off his knee and would seem to go backwards.

Eden rakes it away, that is all OK and fine.

Picked up cleanly by Gale, now it is about the grounding.

Millington gets hands firmly on the ball and the try is given.

And Castleford are developing a comfort zone now.

Up quickly.

Here is McGuire.

Support from Sutcliffe.

Sutcliffe with a step, trips over his own feet.

But Leeds are still in a decent position.

Parcell.

That's another testing kick.

Oh, they have messed it up.

They have messed it up between them!

Adam Cuthbertson will score and another Castleford mistake

gifting, gifting Leeds a try.

They didn't have to work too hard for that one.

Knocked forward again by Milner.

Jamie Jones-Buchanan comes in as well, and Milner is not happy.

Milner not happy with the first contact here.

And that is the reason why.

It was a little high, penalty has been given to Castleford.

So here comes Gale who has kicked four out of four tonight.

That will be five out of five and Castleford have a ten point lead

with ten minutes to play.

Roberts.

Scooting up to that left-hand side.

It is just a case of seeing it home now, you feel from Castleford,

because three minutes are on the clock and Gale is going

to go for a dropped goal here.

It is low, but it is over.

Into those celebrating Castleford fans behind the sticks,

it is a 1-point victory, very fine individual performance

and a very fine team performance.

Stephen, they really need to take a look at your face,

it was a pretty feisty and physical affair.

How disappointed are you with how you performed,

as much as the result?

Yeah, it was such an intense game.

And the atmosphere from the crowd and the whole event,

and the occasion, it created a really big game and on the field

that showed as well.

We just let ourselves down, offensively.

Defence, we were really good, we coped with what Castleford threw

at us, but we really invited Castleford to win the game,

by dropping silly balls and just making unforced errors,

that we did not need to do.

Does that encapsulate at times, what this season has been about?

Defensively, you have been pretty good, maybe the rhythm

in your attack has not always been there?

Yeah.

I don't know so much about rhythm for this game,

I think it was just silly errors, really silly errors,

just coming away from our own line and our own 20 metres zone.

And we just invited Castleford to attack our line

and you just cannot do that.

And we know from the last two games, how much firepower they have,

in which they can put each other forward, so, I think the one

positive to take is how we can just defend and defend and get some

scrappy tries here and there and hopefully we can build on that

for the next time you meet.

You will be meeting them again, how frustrating is this

run getting for you?

It's really tough.

I think it spans over more than three games over the last

few seasons as well.

Castleford are in really red-hot form this year

and it is great for the league, as a neutral, this is

what you want to see, teams coming up through the ranks

and challenging the top teams.

But like I say, we are trying to put those wrongs right and challenge

them a bit going forward.

You knew what Zac Hardaker was going to bring to the game.

We have watched this before we came on.

You are shaking your head, but he had a great game

and he held himself together, didn't he, because it would have

been a big occasion for him.

Yeah, obviously I have been personally involved in that,

always playing centre and I think he would admit himself,

he was a bit naive to have rushed out on Zak like that.

We all know what Zak can do.

He is very elusive and thinking back to that moment, we were in a bit

of a cycle with Castleford.

It was quite toing and froing from both ends of the field

and Zak was just...

He put on some pace and he was doing well there.

Defensively, he still has what he was renowned for with you.

Yeah, he has been renowned for a good while with try

servers which has saved us some games, really.

He is so good at that end of the field as well at attacking.

It will be disappointing for Leeds, but how important for Castleford

that they won this game, given what happened to them

against Hull in the cup, which built up so much,

of what you are going to face at the end of the season?

How important was it for them to bounce back?

It was very important.

I thought the game as a whole, Tanya, it had a cup tie

feel, sudden death feel.

18,000 people there, two teams who were very

intense and very focused and very aggressive.

And I thought Castleford really did themselves a lot of good,

because they won it in a most un-Castleford like way.

We are used to seeing this flowing Rugby League,

expansive Rugby League, will they really roll

their sleeves up and tuck it out and the Castleford defence

was exceptional in that game.

Well, the team in second at the start of the round were

the Salford Red Devils.

They were in St Helens on Friday night, a town

where they haven't won since 1980.

The commentator for this one is Tim Steer.

Salford looking for the first points of the game here.

As they push up towards the ten.

They are going to get the penalty.

They have gone for the two.

Todd Carney, straightforward for him and he put it straight

through and Salford have the lead.

St Helens looking to muster a response.

Try and find a way through the Salford line at the moment.

It has been Lomax.

He is wrapped up around the waist.

Roby.

Matty Smith.

Oh, he has spotted a gap, Matty Smith, he is through!

To put St Helens in front.

It is Theo Fages.

Jonny Lomax.

That is a high tackle, that will be a penalty.

Mark Percival will step up and he put two more

points on the board.

Lui.

Bounces off one St Helens man.

He was not there and he has got the off-load away as well.

Here is Welham.

Looks like he is going to be brought down.

He has got the ball at the back.

Salford are doing their best to try and keep this play alive.

Another big kick comes in there and the off-load once more,

it is Todd Carney, the long pass out towards the left and Bibby.

Finally, is this tackle going to be made on Salford?

Dangerous there, that was merely a tip tackle.

And there goes the half-time hooter.

So Carney puts the kick forward.

St Helens have made a right mess of this!

And Evalds is going to go over to score.

Salford pushing forward here, the beginning of this half.

Across the St Helen's line.

Can they make this count?

It is Carney.

And Lui.

And a lovely cutout pass for Greg Johnson.

He has still got some work to do, but he has got that one down.

Kris Brining with the quick run from acting halfback.

He's put Salford in a great area here.

Can they do something with this?

Lui, from acting half-back, has gone over and

he has scored as well.

This is a really strong Salford performance in

the second half.

Last tackle play.

Logan Tomkins, weighing up the options.

He's put it in the hands of Carney.

Chips it over the line.

Evalds has got that down!

Brilliant effort.

St Helens have got it all to do here, with

eight minutes to go, to

try and get back in this game.

They need to score soon, with Roby.

Towards Regan Grace.

Some good footwork there, the winger.

He's got that one at the back as well, to

Percival.

Percival, onto Roby, spinning away from the tackle alert

to score.

St Helens mounting what could be a

comeback here.

Regan Grace, he's spun away from Johnson.

Grace is going to go over to score.

They couldn't do it, could they?

St Helens moving it along the line with

Matty Smith now, for Makinson.

Pushing off one.

He's still going, Tommy Makinson.

Great run for St Helens.

He's going to be stopped in the end but he's put St Helens

within touching distance of the try line.

Back on the inside for Lomax!

Unbelievable!

From St Helens.

We are all square and Lui has given that straight to

McCarthy-Scarsbrook.

It's into the hands of Matty Smith, the hooter's

gone.

He's gone for the drop goal.

Oh, my word, he's got it!

St Helens have staged an incredible comeback.

I'm just as excited as the players.

It was fantastic to see that sort of finish.

There's been a saying, never write off Saints.

You guys will know it.

It was great to see that myself here tonight.

Really happy.

I'm really happy for Matty.

Didn't have his best game last week.

You know, good players stand up at big moments

and that was as good as

it gets, right on the full-time siren, to hit the field goal.

Last ten minutes, it was like we'd won

the game and we stopped doing what we'd done.

If you do that against any good team you're going to get

bitten at some point.

What we need to do is take that forward as a

lesson and learn them lessons pretty quickly because the further you get

down the track in the bigger games, there will be more like that, that

mentality.

We need to be good at coming through the other side of

that.

Since I've been here I've been really happy with the boys'

character, attitude, wanting to learn.

I've said that all along.

Always said we'd be a team who would get better each week.

Great for them to see the belief, to be able to

finish like that.

It can only help.

Justin Holbrooke learning quickly that you never give up on Saints but

at 24-8 down, if you're Salford, you're properly kicking yourself,

aren't you?

Yeah I think Iain Watson, their review will have been

pretty brutal because you know, you're more

than two scores away in

the dying minutes, basically, eight minutes, but what a fantastic finish

it was by St Helens.

They really score some quality tries there as

well, at the very end.

That play at the end was surreal and what a great

drop goal from Matty Smith.

I mean, let's have a look at it.

That review, if you're Robert Lui you don't want to see that

again.

If you look at the first half, Todd Carney did a chip kick

after the hooter and they scored from it, that may have been going

through his head and it may be the Salford

confidence that they were

still being positive and trying to win the game.

Sometimes you have to put the bat under the arm and take

your cap off and say, we'll have a draw this

time and we'll seek the

two points next time we play them.

What a drop goal from Matty Smith.

The composer he showed, when the hooter had

already gone, putting it

between the Hs, it's just a great piece of play from him.

St Helens, Justin talked about the spirit, they

seem reborn since he arrived, don't they?

Yeah, they seem to have a lot of character, Saints.

To come back from game like that where they could

have easily put the cue in the rack and let the game go...

But they had some fire there and some really good

skill to put those tries away.

John mentions the drop goal, you know,

that's incredible.

The shenanigans at the end with Robert Lui's chip,

that's some feat to see Matty Smith, doing

really well to put that away.

Watson, Salford, it's new territory for them to be up the table and he

said they need to learn lessons.

Three Super League defeats in a row for them.

They beat your guys in the Challenge Cup,

sorry to bring it up.

Is it an interesting time for them if they are

really going to rely as

those ambitions?

It's fascinating.

They are hitting new heights.

That's credit to the players themselves and to the

coaching staff.

I think they are the real deal, I think they'll be in and

amongst the top four at the very end because they have some really

good players and they are playing a really good manner.

Next up for St Helens, a trip to Headingley

to face their old rivals, the Leeds Rhinos.

There's commentary on that one from 7:30pm on Thursday.

It was back in February that Hull won on a wet

weekend in Wakefield.

That was the opening day of the season.

It was the return fixture on Friday.

John, a feisty start to the game, wasn't

it?

Yes, it was quite physical initially and then there was a

tackle that Craig Huby executed and was penalised and a bit of

shenanigans afterwards.

The result was, Craig Huby went to the sin-bin

and so did Fonua there.

And within the next ten minutes, it rarely

affected us.

We only had one set with the ball in this ten minutes

and we made an error within that set and Hull got a couple of penalties

and tries and really made hay.

Played some good rugby league.

Jamie Shaul looks as if he's really returning to

the form that people talked about him as an England international.

During the sin-binning, they've got us here,

lovely play there that buys the wing man Talanoa enough space

there to score.

We were really pleased that we showed some heart

and we dug in.

When the possession momentum shifted to us, people like

James Bachelor went over for a really good try and then Sam

Williams at half-back, a bit of a show and go and shrugging off

Shaul to cross.

12-10 at half-time, we were feeling pretty pleased with

ourselves.

We thought that we'd got to start the half very assertively

and that's exactly what happened.

Just tackling Jones-Bishop short but Reece spotting the late retreat

and over he goes.

Liam Finn converted that.

So, 18-10, you feel you're in with a great chance of

beating Hull, but Kyle Wood is really beating himself up about

that.

As we saw with Ben Roberts against Castleford, you make

decisions, sometimes they work, sometimes they don't work.

If he'd have found Mason Caton-Brown with

open air in front of him, we would put the glasses

down and applauded a try.

That brought Hull back in the game but then our middle defence

wasn't good enough there.

Great play from Sneyd, quality play from their

back five and then the big forwards.

This is like an action replay in the middle channel,

they played the ball quicker than us and Jamie Shaul

going a good 60 metres and that was the game,

even though there were a

couple more tries.

Chasing the game here, the message was about

off-loading and keeping the ball alive.

When you take chances, sometimes they work and sometimes

they don't.

Fonua rounding off a really good individual display with a try.

This was disappointing for us, we'd spoken about it in review,

no matter what the scoreboard is, there are

processes to go through, defensive processes and our contact there

wasn't good enough.

We'll have to address that for the future.

For Hull, they've had a good few weeks.

I think possibly this season they've gone under the radar but how

impressed are you, as they develop towards the end of the season?

Yes, it's getting to the business end of

the season, teams jostling for position to be in the best position

they can to make the top four.

Hull are really looking strong.

They've got some really big guys taking them

forward.

Sneyd has come back after a bit of a lay-off, looking like

they are clinical, finishing chances and I think

they are going well in

defence.

Looking strong.

Hull moving up to second but where will they end

up in our set of six challenge?

Representing FC, it's FT, Fetuli Talanoa.

We've got a pear, watermelon, mango, apple, banana.

Orange.

Zebra, a giraffe, a Lion, a Tiger, a monkey and a Rhino.

Sam Smith.

Justin Timberlake.

Justin Bieber.

Pass.

Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis.

Muhammad Ali.

Anthony Joshua.

Evander Holyfield.

Joe Frazier.

Pound, Euros, dollar, yen.

Pass.

Hi.

Morning.

Wave.

G'day.

That's all.

Pass.

Are you guys feeling pretty smug, having put Ryan

Hall into bat for you?

I don't think we like the fact that Ryan Hall's

sitting pretty at the top!

Never hear the end of it.

We never hear the end of stuff like that.

Batting for somebody else, get in quick,

there aren't many to go.

Let's move into the bottom half of the table

and the meeting of Huddersfield and Wigan.

They drew 16-16 earlier in the season.

It was another close contest on Friday.

Here's Dave Edwards.

These teams were neck and neck in the Super League table with

only points difference keeping Huddersfield above Wigan at the

start of the match.

Giants captain Leroy Cudjoe was first over the

line, his eighth minute try separating the sides early on as the

home side looked to back up last week's impressive home win against

St Helens.

Danny Brough went for an early drop goal to extend

Huddersfield's lead midway through the first

half and then he used his

boot again, a clever kick through the Wigan defence,

making the Giants's second try, for Lee Gaskell.

Huddersfield, 13-0 up with 25 minutes gone.

But then, the Wigan comeback.

John Bateman, making his first Super League start of the

season, crossed for his second try in as many games and then Sam

Tomkins and George Williams combined to set up Leon Marshall.

The Wigan winger touching down for his 19th

try of the season.

Marshall took his tally to 20 just three minutes in

the second half, Williams and Tomkins again the architects before

a trademark flying finish.

The Warriors, in front for the first time in the match.

Huddersfield's fourth consecutive win was back on

when Jermaine McGillvary crossed in the corner and Danny Brough's

conversion put the Giants in front by one.

When Williams booted a drop goal from the halfway, the scores

were level and for the second time between these sides this season, it

finished all square.

Very differing views from the coaches on that.

Rick Stone saying happy enough in the end

but Shaun Wane, not good enough, too many penalties and errors.

Perception, perceptions are a great things.

I'm certain in the fullness of time, Shaun Wane will see the

positives in that and from looking at the clips, the positives, for me,

will be Sam Tomkins looking to regain his sharpness, some killer

passes, good quality play and John Bateman,

outstanding back row player, crossing for a try.

He will have been heavily involved in his

work rate.

They've taken a step forward by getting some more game

time.

Huddersfield just won't go away, they work hard for each other.

When Brough is playing well, they are a handful.

And they brought Jordan Rankin as well.

Have you been surprised at the turnaround that

Huddersfield have had?

I don't think it's surprisingly because they've

been such a strong team.

Three years ago they were finishing top of the

table.

When we go over there, such a tough team to play.

They seem to have the knack of competing and

beating us.

It's about developing that consistency, for Huddersfield.

They seem to be there or thereabouts a lot of the time.

Quite a statement, Jake Mamo's been so key for them and

he seemed to be the catalyst for the change.

Without him for a few weeks.

How important to get a result like that in the first match without him?

It's great for Huddersfield.

I know that Wigan are frustrated with the

loss because they have players coming back.

Huddersfield missing Mamo and Wigan having Sam Tomkins

and John Bateman coming back, they probably got

frustrated by the loss.

They wanted to pick up momentum and Huddersfield looks like they

snatched the draw.

The teams currently in the four positions were

up against each other.

First, Widnes, where Elton John was in

concert last week so he's the man to guide us

through the standings to

the foot of the table.

MUSIC: "I'm Still Standing" - Elton John

# You know I'm still standing better than I ever did

# Looking like a true survivor, feeling like a little kid

# I'm still standing after all this time

# Picking up the pieces of my life without you on my mind

# I'm still standing yeah yeah yeah

# I'm still standing yeah yeah yeah

# I'm still standing yeah yeah yeah

# I'm still standing yeah yeah yeah

Heremaia at dummy half.

Widnes very relieved to have both him and

Lloyd White back in their 17.

Heremaia again.

Trying to pick up position here.

It's a decent drive.

Stepping on the inside, Cahill.

Heremaia wanting more.

Getting closer and closer.

Grab and a catch by Mellor.

What a bounce that was, and again.

Bridge touching down.

Well, they're going to have a look at this again.

The bounce was unbelievable.

Off this artificial pitch, they couldn't deal with it,

Leigh, and Bridge very grateful to touch down and score.

I think this is going to be given.

It is.

Widnes getting a dream start with that

early try.

Heremaia.

Into Houston from Rangi Chase's pass.

He's not got a hand laid on him, Chris

Houston and two tries in the opening six minutes here for Widnes.

Great start for them.

White.

The forwards again heavily involved.

Great off-load, to keep things flowing

forward, from the Widnes point of view.

Here's an opportunity.

It's with Thompson.

Oh, he's turned him inside out here.

Corey Thompson with a very cheeky grin because that was

a very cheeky try.

If it's given.

The referee, not appreciating the advances of the Leigh players.

Now, they are looking for obstruction here.

Behind his own man.

Close call.

Nothing wrong with the grounding and the try

is confirmed, Widnes having their third.

Half an hour played.

Rolling in, Widnes rolling forward.

A little bit loose.

It is with Mellor.

Over the line, Houston again for a deck

on.

Two tries late in the first half, putting Widnes in total

control now.

You rather fancy that they need to score first in the

second half if they are going to dent a bit of the confidence that

Widnes showed in the first period.

At the moment these two teams swapping places at the foot of the

table but Leigh looking for a response and finding something with

Hampshire, who has support.

Brown is driving it down.

Widnes are back on their own goal-line defending here

because Leigh have surged and they are going to score.

Nick Rawsthorne on his debut.

Timely try for Leigh and it may ignite something now.

Little sashay to the right, Pellissier.

Houston was a big obstacle in his way.

Leigh with Vea, yes, he has it down.

Two tries now for Leigh.

Putting the cat among the pigeons, showing a response.

Leigh fans are in terrific voice.

As well they might be because their side,

having been very much under the pump in the first half, looking more

likely in the second.

That's gone to ground and here comes Corey

Thompson.

And he is going to burst Leigh's bubble, and in exceptional style.

His second of the night, Corey Thompson, a gift when it came.

That he had the speed to take total advantage.

Widnes, back in the driving seat.

Still a long way to cover here.

A bit of urgency through Cahill.

Needs to get on with it as quickly as he possibly can here.

Oh, he slides through.

Stylishly done and has support and Ryan Ince

will finish off the job.

What a classy try that is for Widnes.

It might just have finished off the night because there is only

seven minutes left to play now.

Desperately disappointing from the point of view of Leeds.

They could say goodbye to their ambitions, their hopes

of finishing in the top eight, even the winners will struggle

to finish in the top eight, but Widnes maybe have got a little

bit of momentum now.

That is an untidy finish from them.

Ince picks it up and flicks it back.

Here is Mellor, he goes to the right and Whitley will cap a very good

individual performance from him, with the score.

One less visit to the video ref, before the night is complete.

Try.

Eventually.

There is the kick.

If anyone, it was a Leigh hand that sent it forwards.

Ince.

That flick has clearly gone backwards.

Here is Mellor.

Changes direction.

Whitley, clean finish.

Try for Widnes, win for Widnes, they overtake Leigh

at the bottom of the table.

That is a good night for them.

Neal Dukes did not pull his punches after that.

The last time we saw Leigh, they were beating Wigan,

they put 50 points on Wigan.

They built this up to be a Cup Final, do you think,

maybe they built up a little bit too much for themselves?

Yeah.

It is such a contrast to that victory they had over Wigan.

Sometimes that can happen.

You can build games up and put so much energy and thought

into how you can perform, how you need to perform

and sometimes it can happen because, I guess it is a tight league

and a tighter game, all the time.

It can put a lot of pressure on you.

They will not be happy with that, Leigh, especially after such

a good game against Wigan.

Widnes, though, three wins out of four, they look such a better

side now, don't they?

How important has Rangi Chase been at the training ground for them?

He has took a gamble and I think it is a gamble that is really paying

off for the Widnes Vikings.

This try here, I was watching it on TV and I thought

he had got the ball.

He ended up putting the ball down behind the post.

That was a great piece of deception.

He came in with a pretty good defensive shot there.

That showed his commitment to the cause.

Technically, really good shot there and put into the ground

there and then he comes up, 20-40 kick, we have got a piece

of sublime attacking skill.

Piece of great defence.

And then a great aspect of his kicking game.

But you have got to counter that and I am sure the coach,

Denis Betts, will be aware of this as well.

There is a bit of petulance in there as well, that was not

called for as well.

But, I think you would accept it at the minute, and Frankie has got

that little glint in his eye, I think he will accept

that he is doing 80% good, 20% in difference.

I think Denis Betts will be more than happy with his

contribution to the cause.

When he is playing like that, how was he doing?

You really have to attack that line, I think that is a natural feeling

he has and that little drop that he did, that is

the next level of stuff.

I have not seen that done many times.

To try and trick the defence after you have given the ball away.

It is the next step up, I think, and he is such a hard

player to defend against.

Do you think Denis will keep him?

I do, yes.

I think he has certainly contributed.

I think Denis Betts has done a great job as well and he has shown great

resolve as well and he has stuck with his players and stuck

with his systems and structures.

Well, Steve McNamara is the new coach of Catalan.

He was confirmed as the replacement for Laurent Frayssinous last month.

The former England boss has most recently been working

as an assistant coach with the New Zealand Warriors.

He arrived in France with Catalan in the bottom four of the table.

When a team changes its coach, it is generally because they are not

in a great position.

Generally they changes the coach, because there are some things

there that need to improve at the club and quite

clearly there are things that we need to improve,

but the group of players that I have, have quite a lot

of potential in them.

We need to get some of that as quickly as we can.

This is one big club, one hell of a big club in Rugby League,

it is well-known and we want to make sure that this club

fufills its potential.

Richie Myler, with a try for Catalan.

The NRL has opened my eyes to a completely different

level of Rugby League.

After the international game as well.

It takes the experience and adds it to the experiences I have had,

as a Super League coach and I'm looking forward to bringing

all of those to this club and opening up everything

there and giving it everything we have got.

The NRL is a completely different beast.

I'm not saying it is better or worse than Super League,

it is just different, completely different and so you get

to see things from a completely different perspective.

So first up for the new coach was a trip to Warrington

on Saturday, a crucial two points on offer for the winners.

Your commentator is Tim Steer.

Paul Aiton.

Acting halfback for Catalan.

Myler.

The French side get it over towards the right edge

and Jodie Broughton is going to go in for the first score of the game.

Warrington looking to muster a response here.

Atkins has got that one brilliantly away for Jullien to score.

Here is Gidley.

Gidley puts a high kick forward for Warrington.

And Catalan have not dealt with it and Kevin Penny has

come away with the ball, and he stopped just

short of the line.

Atkins awaits.

He goes from dummy half and Atkins scores.

Quick play, the ball from Catalan there, looking to speed things

up with Richie Myler.

Oh, huge gap for Myler there and he will score

against his former club.

Declan Patton.

He has put a high kick forward now for Warrington.

Catalan, they have knocked on there.

That is going to be a penalty.

Kurt Gidley, going to take the two.

Gets the two.

That is well for Warrington.

Daryl Clark.

Great run from Clark there from acting halfback.

It is the applause of the home fans.

Catalan taking their time to unleash the tackle and the penalty goes

the way of Warrington.

So Gidley once more.

Successful penalty kick for two more points on the board.

Here is Clark.

Clark, he has spotted a gap in the line and he has

got through as well.

This is another great run from Daryl Clark.

He has got Patton.

He is going to go to ground, but credit again for

Daryl Clark's efforts there.

Gidley.

With the kick.

Out towards Atkins.

Try from Warrington.

Catalan is trailing by eight points here.

They need to try and reduce that now with Richie Myler.

And he has got that down to set up a grandstand finish now.

Just two points in it.

A couple of minutes to go.

It is Andre Savelio for Warrington.

He is heading and he scores to give Warrington a crucial win

and Steve McNamara has suffered defeat in his first game in charge.

I don't think it was a spectacular game of Rugby League.

I thought it had some tension in it, and both teams showed some

of that tension at times.

I thought.

A lot of spirit and fight.

To see us compete, and give ourselves a a chance

of winning the game, right up until the last three

or four minutes, for me, means we have moved a step

in the right direction.

It is only one step, a small step, but it is certainly the right step.

Catalan had a real dig, they were trying to impress the new coach.

They tried really hard.

I thought they were a lot better than I have seen in recent weeks.

They really had a shot at it.

Good improvement from my boys as well, I thought.

How big a job has Steve McNamara got in his hands at Catalan?

Yeah, it is going to be tough.

It is going to be tough.

They have obviously lost a lot of confidence and self-belief.

And it is pretty easy to lose, but it is very difficult to regain

and I think that is the first job for Steve.

Whilst he is over there.

Perhaps to strip it back and simplify it and tick little

boxes so they can start believing, once again, that they are good

players, because there is no doubt about it,

he has got some quality there, but it is quality

at the minute on paper.

It needs to be transferred then onto the playing field.

For Warrington, they had a real mix of youth and experience,

how important do you think their experienced players

were for them in getting them through what was a nervy game?

I think those last ten or 15 minutes, where the game really

matters is where the older heads start to take control and develop

the game from there to take them into a winning position.

They have got so many old heads and people who have been in these

kind of situations and I think they will probably come

through when it really matters most.

Recently you experienced this last year.

They have shown a lot of spirit in the last couple of weeks,

Warrington, how key is that going to be to get them out

of the position that they are in?

Yeah, that would be paramount, I think, after all the coaching

staff, they need to make sure that the team are always good

and it can be so draining and so hard to lose games

back-to-back and it can be really hard to concentrate

and to try and improve, because they have lost so much steam

and energy from battling those losses and trying to improve.

I think they need a clean slate and to try and make that top eight,

if not, they're going to have to look at a different

kind of competition.

Do you expect to see Warrington and Catalan in those qualifiers?

I think Catalan will be in the qualifiers.

I think Warrington have got a chance of getting in there,

but time is running out.

Fascinating, the last few weeks, isn't it, so Warrington back

to winning ways and with the months to go in the regular season,

this is where they stand in the BetFred Super League table.

The Wolves move up to ninth, three points adrift of Wigan.

Remember the bottom four will face a fight for Super League

survival in the qualifiers.

The big movers at the top of the table are Hull,

climbing two places to second place.

They remain seven points behind the leaders Castleford.

So, we've reached the end of June and here are one or two things that

caught our eye in the last couple of months.

Brian Lennon might want to forget this one.

Don't celebrate your tries too early is the motto here.

Fortunately for him, the Red Devils managed to hold

onto the lead against Hull KR.

People seem to have trouble staying on their feet.

Recently Tony Gigot took this tumble at Wigan.

One Wakefield fan quite literally went over the top in celebrating

Nathan Caton-Brown's try at Salford.

And is this the best header seen at St James's Park

since Alan Shearer retired?

Textbook technique from the Tigers fan at the Gallowgate end.

Well at least someone has an excuse for leaving

Newcastle with a sore head!

That's it for this week, my thanks to Stevie

and to John for joining us.

We will see you all next week.

Goodbye.