Super League review: Wins for St Helens, Castleford, Wigan, Hull FC and Leigh
A review of the latest round of matches in the Betfred Super League, as Wakefield lost to drop out of the top four.
Click here for Super League standings and season fixtures/results
Super League results & reports (July 20 to July 23)
Sunday
Saturday
Catalan Dragons 24-32 Castleford
Friday
Hull 14-10 Huddersfield
Leigh 25-0 Salford
Wigan 34-0 Leeds
Thursday
Sunday review
Salford were the big winners on the final day of the regular Betfred Super League season after Wakefield went down 41-16 at home to St Helens to drop out of the top four.
Trinity had the chance to enter the Super 8s by securing third place but they were outplayed by an impressive Saints outfit who kept alive their own semi-final bid with a fifth successive win at Belle Vue and only a second away win in the league in 2017.
The outcome means that Salford end the 23-game season in fourth place despite losing six of their last seven matches and in doing so claim an extra home game in the Super 8s.
Danny Richardson opened the scoring with an eighth-minute try while James Roby, Tommy Makinson, Regan Grace, Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, and Zeb Taia also crossed, with Mark Percival kicking eight goals. Richardson also kicked a last-minute drop goal.
Saturday review
A Jy Hitchcox double secured a 20th regular season win for the Castleford Tigers as they defeated Catalans Dragons 32-24 in Perpignan.
The Tigers scored two late tries to secure the win despite being down to 11 men at one point in the second half following the sin-binning of Kevin Larroyer (unsportsmanlike behaviour) and Mike McMeeken (holding down in the tackle).
Zak Hardaker, Greg Minikin and Paul McShane scored Castleford's other tries, while Lucas Albert, Tony Gigot, Fouad Yaha and Vincent Duport went over for Catalans.
Friday review
England stand-off George Williams scored two tries to make up for an off day with the boot as Wigan put a weakened Leeds to the sword with a 34-0 victory at the DW Stadium.
No doubt with an eye on next Saturday's Challenge Cup semi-final against Hull, Leeds coach Brian McDermott went into the last match of the regular season before the split for the Super 8s without 15 senior players.
The Rhinos had three debutants, including 17-year-old threequarter Harry Newman, who made history by becoming the first player born this century to play in Super League, and another three players on the bench with just three Super League appearances between them.
Not surprisingly, it was largely men against boys for most of the match as the Warriors eased their way to a much-needed victory that keeps alive their hopes of a top-four finish.
Michael McIlorum, Sam Tomkins, Oliver Gildart and Tom Davies also crossed for the home side.
Hull FC ended their regular season campaign with a less than convincing 14-10 win over the Huddersfield Giants.
It was not the prettiest of wins, but the two points keeps Lee Radford's side in the hunt for a play-off place at the end of the seven-game Super 8s.
Mark Minichiello opened the scoring in the 14th minute using every inch of his frame to stretch the ball over the Giants line following a sustained period of pressure. Marc Sneyd, who scored 28 points in the reverse fixture at Huddersfield, added the extras for a 6-0 lead.
Gareth Ellis marked his return from injury to set up Hull's second score, sidestepping through the Giants defence to send Josh Bowden over for a try with his first touch of the game. Sneyd converted to extend the home side's advantage to 12-0.
Darnell McIntosh and Jermaine McGillvary responded with tries for the Giants, but Sneyd's third goal five minutes from time sealed it.
Leigh made sure they did not finish bottom of Super League at the end of the regular season as they nilled Challenge Cup semi-finalists Salford at the Sports Village.
Instead it is Widnes who take the wooden spoon after Leigh scored 25 unanswered points on their way to their first ever Super League win over their local rivals.
First-half tries from Gregg McNally, Atelea Vea and Samisoni Langi, all converted by Josh Drinkwater, saw Leigh lead 18-0 at half-time and they completed the job with a second for McNally in the dying moments plus a Drinkwater drop goal.
Thursday review
Two tries from winger Matty Russell helped Warrington claim their third victory of the season against Widnes thanks to a strong second-half display at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Warrington trailed 6-4 at half time against their local rivals but Russell's double and further tries from Kevin Brown and Peta Hiku plus three goals from Stefan Ratchford saw the Wolves finish the regular season with a third straight win.
With both sides already consigned to the middle eights, the result had little consequence to the final standings.
The next time these rivals meet the stakes will be much higher as they will be scrapping for their Super League lives.
Click here for Super League fixtures, results and updated standings