 |
| Corey Thompson - hat trick hero. |
There were three outstanding performances this weekend and Widnes Vikings top my list with their total destruction, 56-12, of last year’s treble winners, Leeds Rhinos. It’s clear that the Rhinos are struggling and question marks need to be raised about their recruitment, pre-Ferres that is, and their injury toll is mounting but this was all about the quality of the Vikings performance.
The style and fluency of their rugby took the Rhinos apart and Brian McDermott’s men have lost their opening two league games for the first time since 2000 and are looking up on the rest of the league whilst Widnes look down from the very top.
Quite
simply, it was the shock result and the performance of the weekend.
The Vikings
were widely tipped to finish in the bottom two this year and they still might, Wakefield
won their opening two fixtures last year and we know what happened after that. Click below to see highlights of the Vikings demolition of the Rhinos:
2.
The above performance was closely followed by the Salford Red Devils opening the round on Thursday night with their own destruction job, 44-10, on St. Helens.
There were
so many outstanding performances. Half backs Michael Dobson and Robert Lui
controlled the game with Lui looking extremely dangerous with the ball in his
hands and he rightfully took the man of the match award.  |
| Ben Murdoch-Masila |
The above performance was closely followed by the Salford Red Devils opening the round on Thursday night with their own destruction job, 44-10, on St. Helens.
The most exciting performance though, for me, came from Ben Murdoch-Masila.
The big forward, signed from Penrith Panthers where he couldn’t get near the NRL side in 2015, completely destroyed the Saints and they just could not handle his powerful running out wide.
Defensively the Red Devils also looked solid whereas the Saints where all at sea and, at times, looked like they had taken the field together for the first time.
The only down side for Salford must have been the attendance of 4,389, this was lower than the corresponding round 2 fixture last year when the Red Devils got hammered by the Saints. The Red Devils have an exciting team now and the fans need to show their support.
Click below for the highlights of the Red Devils defeat of St. Helens:
3.
Hull FC
produced a second consecutive dominant display and comfortably defeated
Catalans Dragons in the South of France – their first win their since 2010.
 |
| Fetuli Talanoa - try scorer for Hull FC. |
They played some great rugby and scored some outstanding tries and never really looked in trouble. This performance has sent my Hull FC friends into raptures and some of them have booked their Grand Final tickets already.
I said last week that this game would be a good marker for these two teams for the coming season – it showed that Hull have real promise and belief and will be a difficult team to beat whilst the Dragons where disappointing with big Dave Taylor only starting to rumble when the game was gone.
I thought the Dragons would challenge for a top 6 place this year but they will need to improve hugely on this performance to achieve that. I also can’t understand why the Dragons are selecting Tony Gigot over Morgan Escare at full back. Gigot is a very good player but Escare gives his side the x-factor and they look to be lacking that at the moment.
For Hull FC, consistency has got to be the target. They have the squad and ability to challenge for a top 4 place but need to win tough games on a regular basis.
Click below for highlights of Hull Fc's victory at Catalans:
4.
In the wake of Mark Percival’s knee injury suffered against
Salford on Thursday night, Saints coach Kieron Cunningham has called for the
type of tackle that caused the injury, which will see Percival miss at least 12
weeks, to be banned altogether.  |
| Mark Percival - knee injury. |
In the aftermath of Michael Shenton’s season ending knee injury and the resulting 4 match ban handed out to John Boudebza, it was clear to see that the challenge by Salford’s Adam Walne was very similar to Boudebza’s and the result was the same, an injured player leaving the field in a lot of pain and with an extended period out of the game ahead of him.
The difference was that Walne was not put on report, by the same referee who put Boudebza on report, and the Match Review Panel found that he had no case to answer – confusing to say the least.
Don’t get me wrong, Walne did not deserve a ban but as I have said recently we just want the Match Review Panel to be consistent – in this case it hasn’t been. And if we are to ban the type of tackle that has resulted in two bad knee injuries then, as I see it, the only way to do so is to ban tackling from behind in a situation where a player is held up by one or two defenders and instruct defenders to tackle from the side or in front, however impractical that may be.
Also, staying on the Disciplinary front I was surprised to
see there was not even a mention of Olivier Elima’s late challenge on Hull FC
hooker Danny Houghton. Houghton was lifting his head from a seated position and
the Dragons forward dropped his full weight onto his neck and compressed his
chin into his chest – a potentially very dangerous offence which was penalised
but which I thought warranty further scrutiny.
 |
| James Donaldson - dislocated wrist. |
Hull Kingston Rovers started the season with an understrength squad low on numbers in my opinion and released a number of local born squad players at the end of last year – they are now seriously struggling with injuries and suspensions with 6 players injured and 1 suspended from a squad of only 27.
From The Wolves game on Sunday, back rower James Donaldson has been lost for 10-12 weeks with a dislocated wrist whilst injury ravaged prop Mitch Allgood is having a scan on an injured thumb. Moves into the loan market may be required.
Huddersfield Giants have 6 first teamers out including the influential Danny Brough, Joe Wardle, Eorl Crabtree, Scott Grix and Craig Huby and have suffered the immediate retirement of Luke Robinson in the last week but they need to be congratulated for the resilience they showed in taking the Wigan Warriors down to the wire on Friday night.
Champions Leeds Rhinos where without Stevie Ward and Jamie Jones Buchanan for the start of the season but are now missing Beau Falloon and Danny Maguire with Carl Ablett, Ashton Golding and Tom Briscoe also likely to miss the World Club Series match with North Queensland Cowboys on Sunday after suffering injuries in the hammering at Widnes.
The only club without injuries at the moment are the top of the table Vikings. It’s a tough sport, but what do we do about player welfare that we don’t do now?
6.
It’s been said before and I need to say it again – video
referee’s need to present, in some form or another, at all Super League matches
– not just those on Sky TV.
Tom Lineham, Kallum Watkins and Denny Solomona all scored
tries at the weekend that where not covered by the Sky camera’s and could have
easily have been wiped out with a second look – it is difficult for officials
watching and running at full tilt to be 100% sure when players are diving
through the air at high speed in a tangle of bone and muscle.
There are camera’s of some form at all games – therefore,
why can’t we have an official set up somewhere in the ground who can play the
footage back and be in contact with the referee – it doesn’t need the big
screen and surely won’t cost a lot of extra cash.
Either have a video referee at all games or scrap it
altogether and have a level playing field and just accept that the officials
are human and will get it wrong sometimes.
None of the tries I have mentioned above had any real
influence on the final scores although Lineham’s will have knocked the stuffing
out of any potential Hull KR recovery and put the game beyond them.Have a look at the photograph below and tell me Lineham’s right foot was not in touch – and look where the linesman is!!
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