2022 Betfred Super League: Round One Review

Three red cards, a brand new broadcaster and plenty of talking points, round one of the Betfred Super League didn’t fail to disappoint.

St Helens 28-8 Catalans Dragons

With a repeat of the Grand Final opening Round One, it was the same outcome as the Saints went marching on with an opening day victory.

Parallel to the Grand Final, Catalans took the lead through Fouad Yaha but it would be their only try of the game as Saints took control and ran riot to win their first game of the campaign.

Next up for Saints is a trip to the MKM Stadium as they face Hull FC whilst Catalans play their first game of the season on home soil as they host Willie Poaching’s Wakefield Trinity.

Castleford Tigers 16-26 Salford Red Devils

Despite a bumper crowd at the Jungle, the Red Devils spoilt the party in Yorkshire as Salford stole the spoils on Friday night.

Marc Sneyd was named man-of-the-match as he returned to his former club and kicked seven goals in his first game back since returning to Salford in the off season.

Despite Castleford opening the scoring, Salford looked the more organised team over the 80 minutes and it was a huge win for confidence within the squad and for new head coach Paul Rowley.

Tries from Ken Sio, King Vuniyayawa and Deon Cross provided the chances for Sneyd to convert the decisive kicks which earned Salford the two points.

Hull KR 10-24 Wigan Warriors

With a tough fixture in Round One for Matt Peet, Wigan overcame the opening day challenge with an exciting performance and win at Craven Park.

Jay Field was one of the stars of the show after he had showed the willingness and determination to kick on this season after a ruined campaign last year due to injury.

Cade Cust’s kicking was also something to be desired and will be great to see for the Wigan fans to watch after losing Jackson Hastings in the off season.

A brace from Jay Bibby and Liam Marshall as well as a Jay Field try ensured Matt Peet’s first win as Warriors head coach and stopped the momentum that Hull KR built up towards the end of last campaign.

KR will be hoping to get to winning ways as soon as possible with a Yorkshire derby in Round two as they face a trip to the John Smith’s stadium to face Huddersfield as Wigan face Leeds Rhinos on Friday evening.

Leeds Rhinos 20-22 Warrington Wolves

On Saturday, Rugby League history was made as the sport was shown live for the first time on Channel 4. It brought in some quite brilliant viewing figures and the reaction to the commentary, and everything involved with the broadcast all appeared very positive.

The two games weren’t so bad either as Warrington came from behind in Daryl Powell’s first game as head coach to beat Richard Agar’s Leeds Rhinos at Headingley.

Leeds had James Bentley sent off in what was his first competitive game for his boyhood club for a tackle adjudged to be too high for the referee’s liking, something which is set to be clamped down on this year.

Tries from Gareth Widdop, Connor Wrench and a Josh Charnley double gave the Wire the two points as they stole the win with six minutes to play with a Stefan Ratchford conversion giving the Wolves a two-point lead.

But Agar will be encouraged that his side pushed Warrington all the way despite playing for over an hour with a man less thanks to Bentley’s red card and will be hopeful they can get some points on the board as they travel to Wigan next week.

Toulouse 14-42 Huddersfield Giants

Despite a promising start, the dream debut wasn’t meant to be for French side Toulouse as Huddersfield ran out clear winners in round one.

Toulouse have had their fair deal of controversy in the build-up to the season but spirits remained high ahead of their opener with Ian Watson’s side.

But tries from Jake Wardle (2), Oliver Ashall-Bott, Chris McQueen, Louise Senior, Innes Senior and Luke Yates gave Huddersfield victory in the South of France with Oliver Russell having six successful kicks on the night.

Toulouse had led 10-0 in the opening stages and despite the final result, should take confidence in their start into their next game with a trip to the AJ Bell Stadium to face Salford.

Wakefield Trinity 12-16 Hull FC

 The final game of round one made it five away wins from six Super League fixtures as Hull FC got off to a winning start against Willie Poaching’s men.

A try from debutant Luke Gale as well as Joe Lovodua and Darnell McIntosh saw Brett Hodgson’s side grind out a gritty performance to earn a third consecutive round one victory for the black and whites.

FC did hold on despite being down to 12 men for the final 15 minutes after the highly rated Jake Connor received a red card from the referee for a high hit on Trinity’s Lee Gaskell which saw the third red card in six games across the round.

It had appeared Wakefield had high expectations for the season ahead after a strong finish to their last campaign, so a win in round two will be very much needed for Poaching before people begin to reassess their expectations for the season ahead.

Follow us on Twitter @ProstInt