Archive February 28, 2025

Betfred Super League

Leigh (16) 34

Goals: O’Brien 5; Tries: Hanley 3, Brand, Hughes, O’Neill

Catalans (0) 6

Leigh Leopards fought back from a disastrous start to the Super League season with a hat-trick from Umyla Hanley.

As Hanley, Keanan Brand, and Jack Hughes each crossed the line, the Catalans struggled to turn pressure into points.

As the Dragons’ error count rose, Hanley took the lead shortly after the break, and Ethan O’Neill made his first Leigh try.

Alrix da Costa finally put the visitors on the board, but Hanley added a hat-trick to cap a hat-trick for the win.

Reimis Smith’s early score for the visitors was overturned by video referee James Vella, but the French side’s performance came as close as it could.

Hanley scored at the other end, but moments later he made his season debut, showing good footwork to crash through after Tesi Niu’s outstanding run had made significant inroads.

Catalans enjoyed plenty of territory and possession but lacked a product, as did Warrington’s defeat last week, and two Leigh scores before the half-hour mark exemplified their season-long start.

Luke Keary’s pass was intercepted, allowing Owen Trout to collect Brand and take him off for a 70-meter run to the line.

Ben Garcia, making his 250th Catalan appearance, was then held up over the Leigh line for a third try within 60 seconds.

With a 30-meter run from behind his own in-goal line, it was ignited by debutant AJ Towse, who replaced David Armstrong, and was followed by Hughes via a second Lachlan Lam assist.

As more attacking pressure failed to bear fruit, Catalans’ growing frustration reached the forefront just before the break when Jordan Dezaria was taken to the sin-bin for preventing a 20-meter restart.

O’Neill dropped over the line after a surge from Gareth O’Brien, who kicked five conversions, was stopped after Hanley weaved through some slack tackling for his second.

Adrian Lam, head coach of the Leigh Leopards, told BBC Radio Manchester:

“We made AJ Towse our Super League debut today, and I’m really happy for him. We called on Dr. Armstrong to come in here and do what he did tonight because he was ill when he woke up this morning.

“And in the same breath, I thought Bailey Hodgson was fantastic at fullback.” When it’s their turn, it only gives us confidence.

“It’s great that the group is a quick learning group, but I don’t want to be too ahead of ourselves.

Brogan, Tuitavake, Davis, and Dwyer are the exchanges.

Catalans: Rouge, Makinson, Romano, Laguerre, Cotric, Keary, Smith, Navarrete, Garcia, Bousquet, Sironen, Whitehead, Partington, and others.

Sims, Da Costa, Dezaria, and Seguier swap out.

Sin-bin: Dezaria (38)

Betfred Super League

Huddersfield (10) 10

Gagai’s attempts, Flanagan’s

Hull FC (4) 11

Hull FC won the game’s dramatic comeback against the Huddersfield Giants thanks to Harvey Barron’s 90-metre interception try.

The 21-year-old put an end to a risky Giants attack by grabbing Tui Lolohea’s pass and running to the other end, with Aidan Sezer converting and adding a drop-goal to win.

After Lewis Martin had given the Black and Whites an early lead, Jacob Gagai and Adam Swift scored tries to give the home side a lead at half-time that made it seem like they were on the verge of their first Super League title.

Giants appeared to be on top of their lead, but Hull resisted, attacked well, and struck in the final fifteen minutes to extend their lead.

Both teams needed a victory, with Huddersfield losing both of their opening games of the season and Hull having been brought back to life by their home defeat by champions Wigan Warriors last week.

Sezer, the try’s architect, was drawn first by the visitors. With a 40-20 lead, the former Wests Tigers scrum half’s floated pass finding Martin on the left found him as Hull hardpressed his team.

When he rolled over the line in a tackle, he appeared to lose control, only for video referee Aaron Moore to decide that Martin had retained fingertip control. Referee Tom Grant declared “no try” on the field.

The Giants responded in some style despite the home fans’ disapproval of the outcome. Before sending the ball to Gagai, who had just signed from South Sydney, Hewitt quickly accelerated through a gap in the Hull defense and drew the cover.

After that, Giants took advantage of the situation when Lolohea’s sharp pass over the top found Swift and gave him an acrobatic finish in the corner against his former club.

As Huddersfield attempted to show their superiority to Sezer, Oliver Wilson fumbled the ball over the line after his questionable tackle had caused the match to end in a draw due to two Lolohea errors.

The Tonga international had started the match, but Barron was waiting for him as he attempted to convert from his first-half loop pass to Swift, making the conversion simple for Sezer.

Luke Robinson, the coach of the Huddersfield Giants, told BBC Radio Leeds:

“We won the game pretty much in every way possible. We controlled where we turned the ball over, and for the majority of the first half, we were very good with the ball.

Instead of winning, it seems like we have lost it. We never appeared to be threatened defensively, so they didn’t appear to be scoring.

If I’m being honest, I don’t even know how they did that first try. The ref made a somewhat shady choice. I don’t know if there was any downward pressure involved, but my guess was that he was simply scraping it.

I’m a record breaker, I say. They did themselves proud of the defensive effort, but we were a little bit stupid in game management as well.

John Cartwright, the coach of Hull FC, told BBC Radio Humberside:

To come from behind was pleasing because I knew it would be difficult to come and play against a determined side that likely smelled a win themselves, and the way they did it was probably the most enjoyable.

“The two wingers (Lewis Martin and Harvey Barron) are doing a fantastic job for us,” said Barron. They consistently improve their work rate and, defensively, they consistently improve.

We started out in good positions for the first 20 minutes, but some high tackles and errors caused them to regain control, the crowd rallied behind them, some wise decisions were made, and we had to work really hard.

Changes: Golding, Rogers, Billington, Burgess.

Moy, Martin, Rapana, Briscoe, Barron, Cust, Sezer, Ese ‘ese, Bourouh, Aydin, Chamberlain, Lane, Asiata, and Martin are Hull FC players.

Interchanges: Salabio, Balmforth, Fash, and Ashworth

Betfred Super League

Huddersfield (10) 10

Gagai’s attempts, Flanagan’s

Hull FC (4) 11

Hull FC won the game’s dramatic comeback against the Huddersfield Giants thanks to Harvey Barron’s 90-metre interception try.

The 21-year-old put an end to a risky Giants attack by grabbing Tui Lolohea’s pass and running to the other end, with Aidan Sezer converting and adding a drop-goal to win.

After Lewis Martin had given the Black and Whites an early lead, Jacob Gagai and Adam Swift scored tries to give the home side a lead at half-time that made it seem like they were on the verge of their first Super League title.

Giants appeared to be on top of their lead, but Hull resisted, attacked well, and struck in the final fifteen minutes to extend their lead.

Both teams needed a victory, with Huddersfield losing both of their opening games of the season and Hull having been brought back to life by their home defeat by champions Wigan Warriors last week.

Sezer, the try’s architect, was drawn first by the visitors. With a 40-20 lead, the former Wests Tigers scrum half’s floated pass finding Martin on the left found him as Hull hardpressed his team.

When he rolled over the line in a tackle, he appeared to lose control, only for video referee Aaron Moore to decide that Martin had retained fingertip control. Referee Tom Grant declared “no try” on the field.

The Giants responded in some style despite the home fans’ disapproval of the outcome. Before sending the ball to Gagai, who had just signed from South Sydney, Hewitt quickly accelerated through a gap in the Hull defense and drew the cover.

After that, Giants took advantage of the situation when Lolohea’s sharp pass over the top found Swift and gave him an acrobatic finish in the corner against his former club.

As Huddersfield attempted to show their superiority to Sezer, Oliver Wilson fumbled the ball over the line after his questionable tackle had caused the match to end in a draw due to two Lolohea errors.

The Tonga international had started the match, but Barron was waiting for him as he attempted to convert from his first-half loop pass to Swift, making the conversion simple for Sezer.

Luke Robinson, the coach of the Huddersfield Giants, told BBC Radio Leeds:

“We won the game pretty much in every way possible. We controlled where we turned the ball over, and for the majority of the first half, we were very good with the ball.

Instead of winning, it seems like we have lost it. We never appeared to be threatened defensively, so they didn’t appear to be scoring.

If I’m being honest, I don’t even know how they did that first try. The ref made a somewhat shady choice. I don’t know if there was any downward pressure involved, but my guess was that he was simply scraping it.

I’m a record breaker, I say. They did themselves proud of the defensive effort, but we were a little bit stupid in game management as well.

John Cartwright, the coach of Hull FC, told BBC Radio Humberside:

To come from behind was pleasing because I knew it would be difficult to come and play against a determined side that likely smelled a win themselves, and the way they did it was probably the most enjoyable.

“The two wingers (Lewis Martin and Harvey Barron) are doing a fantastic job for us,” said Barron. They consistently improve their work rate and, defensively, they consistently improve.

We started out in good positions for the first 20 minutes, but some high tackles and errors caused them to regain control, the crowd rallied behind them, some wise decisions were made, and we had to work really hard.

Changes: Golding, Rogers, Billington, Burgess.

Moy, Martin, Rapana, Briscoe, Barron, Cust, Sezer, Ese ‘ese, Bourouh, Aydin, Chamberlain, Lane, Asiata, and Martin are Hull FC players.

Interchanges: Salabio, Balmforth, Fash, and Ashworth

Liverpool are willing to take Luis Diaz’s offers into consideration, while Arsenal and Aston Villa are interested in signing Joshua Kimmich, and Villa have joined the Dusan Vlahovic race.

Joshua Kimmich, 30, and Bayern Munich both want to join Arsenal on a free transfer this summer. (Sky Sports)

The Gunners are interested in signing Kimmich, with a close relationship with Real Sociedad‘s 26-year-old midfielder Martin Zubimendi. (Metro)

Other clubs interested in Kimmich include Liverpool and Barcelona. (Sun)

Dusan Vlahovic, 25, is increasingly likely to leave Juventus in the summer, according to Aston Villa, who have united with Arsenal. (TeamTalk)

Regardless of the future of Netherlands defender Virgil van Dijk, 33, and England international Trent Alexander-Arnold, 26, who is expected to leave for Real Madrid, Liverpool intend to sign a new centre-back and a right-back in the summer transfer window. Football Insider

Atletico Madrid is interested in signing Colombia winger Luis Diaz for around 70 million euros (£57.7 million) in the summer, but Liverpool might be open to that option. (Fichajes – Spanish)

Despite recent scrutiny of Danish keeper Filip Jorgensen, 22, and Spaniard Robert Sanchez, 27, they are not planning to sign a goalkeeper during the summer transfer window. (Times: A subscription required)

Casemiro, a midfielder between Manchester United and Brazil, is one of AC Milan’s top summer transfer targets. (Fichajes – Spanish)

AC Milan may be competing for Algerian left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri, 23. (CaughtOffside)

Liverpool are willing to take Luis Diaz’s offers into consideration, while Arsenal and Aston Villa are interested in signing Joshua Kimmich, and Villa have joined the Dusan Vlahovic race.

Joshua Kimmich, 30, and Bayern Munich both want to join Arsenal on a free transfer this summer. (Sky Sports)

The Gunners are interested in signing Kimmich, with a close relationship with Real Sociedad‘s 26-year-old midfielder Martin Zubimendi. (Metro)

Other clubs interested in Kimmich include Liverpool and Barcelona. (Sun)

Dusan Vlahovic, 25, is increasingly likely to leave Juventus in the summer, according to Aston Villa, who have united with Arsenal. (TeamTalk)

Regardless of the future of Netherlands defender Virgil van Dijk, 33, and England international Trent Alexander-Arnold, 26, who is expected to leave for Real Madrid, Liverpool intend to sign a new centre-back and a right-back in the summer transfer window. Football Insider

Atletico Madrid is interested in signing Colombia winger Luis Diaz for around 70 million euros (£57.7 million) in the summer, but Liverpool might be open to that option. (Fichajes – Spanish)

Despite recent scrutiny of Danish keeper Filip Jorgensen, 22, and Spaniard Robert Sanchez, 27, they are not planning to sign a goalkeeper during the summer transfer window. (Times: A subscription required)

Casemiro, a midfielder between Manchester United and Brazil, is one of AC Milan’s top summer transfer targets. (Fichajes – Spanish)

AC Milan may be competing for Algerian left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri, 23. (CaughtOffside)