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Betfred Super League

Warrington Wolves (16):

Goals: Sneyd 2

Huddersfield Giants (14) 24

As a result of Warrington’s unsuccessful attempt to resurrect, struggling Huddersfield held on for just their second Super League victory of the year.

Jacob Gagai and Jake Bibby scored tries before Marc Sneyd scored the hosts.

After the break, Taane Milne’s score gave the Giants a second chance before Gagai’s second of the day put the visitors up by three scores.

The Wolves were soon given a second chance by Toby King, and Jake Thewlis’ spectacular finish gave them a brief moment of hope. However, Sneyd was unable to convert the goal, and the Giants won.

With 15 games left, Wakefield is now four points clear of the play-off spots thanks to Friday’s impressive victory over second-placed Wigan.

Salford is now two points clear of Huddersfield, whose only previous victory this year was against Hull FC at Magic Weekend in May.

After 15 minutes, Tui Lolohea intercepted a George Williams pass and ran down the field before giving it to Gagai.

When Bibby went over in the corner and scored a late penalty for Matt Frawley, things turned out badly for Warrington.

Sneyd put the Wolves back in it with strong footwork, but the impressive George Flanagan converted and scored a penalty before the break to give the Giants a 14-6 lead.

However, Warrington only had a short window of relief when Milne made a 40/20 attempt from Lolohea and scored his second of the day for Gagai.

After Sneyd had a goal from the kick-off, King made a follow-up kick from the half-back to give the home side a chance to make a comeback.

With five minutes to go, Jake Thewlis’ brilliant finish, which was followed by brother Josh’s pass, appeared to set up a grandstand finish, but Sneyd was unable to kick the extras, which would have reduced the arrears to six points.

Fans of Huddersfield were relieved when the Giants saw out the final minutes of a frantic defeat at Wigan last week after watching their team lose in a last-gasp defeat last week.

Next Saturday when they take on Catalans Dragons, they will look to build on this success.

Powell, Thomas, Philbin, Wood, and more.

Huddersfield Giants: Flanagan Jr., Gagai, Milne, Halsall, Bibby, Lolohea, Frawley, Cudjoe, Greenwood, Hewitt, Powell, Woolford, King, and others.

Golding, English, Burgess, Rushton, and others exchange.

England XV (19) 24

Tries: Willis, Coles, Carpenter, Dombrandt Cons: Ford 2

France XV (12) 26

Immanuel Feyi-Waboso was sent off as Steve Borthwick’s England XV conceded two late tries in a disappointing 26-24 defeat by a France XV at Twickenham’s Allianz Stadium.

A try from Harlequins captain Alex Dombrandt moments after France’s Cameron Woki was sent off gave England a 24-12 lead heading into the final 10 minutes.

However, Paul Mallez scored from close range to set up a frantic final five minutes and the visitors’ pressure paid off when Romain Taofifenua burrowed over to tie the scores with the clock in the red.

Fly-half Antoine Hastoy fired over the conversion to snatch victory for Fabien Galthie’s side with the last kick of an energy-sapping match played in sweltering conditions in London.

Feyi-Waboso, who missed the Six Nations and a possible place in the British and Irish Lions squad after dislocating his shoulder in December, was shown a yellow card in the 34th minute for tackling Hastoy around the neck.

After a straightforward review, the card was upgraded to a 20-minute red because of the high degree of danger and lack of mitigation.

England had fought back after conceding two early tries to lead at half-time thanks to tries from Tom Willis, Alex Coles and Joe Carpenter, but will rue the way they let France back into the game in the closing stages.

Borthwick, who was without the 13 players selected in the Lions squad – including captain Maro Itoje – names his squad to tour Argentina and the United States on Monday.

Feyi-Waboso, whose energy and enthusiasm in training had been praised by Borthwick in the build-up to the match, almost made a dream return to action with a try in the opening minutes.

Denied by three French tacklers, that was as good as it got for the 22-year-old Exeter Chief though.

Hooker Gaetau Barlot stretched over from a driving maul to give France the lead and then lock Hugo Auradou touched down after full-back Theo Attissogbe burst through the middle of England’s defence.

England put France under sustained pressure on their line and got their reward with the hard-working Tom Willis crashing over the line.

Seb Atkinson, one of three uncapped players in the XV, surged towards the tryline and from a resulting ruck Northampton’s Alex Coles powered over to bring the scores level.

George Ford, co-captain with Jamie George, missed a relatively simple penalty kick to extend England’s lead and Carpenter had a second try ruled out because of an unfortunate Henry Slade knock-on.

Meanwhile, France scrum-half Nolann le Garrec had a breakaway try disallowed because of Woki’s illegal clear out on George, which was upgraded from yellow to red in colour following a review.

England XV: Carpenter; Roebuck, Slade, Atkinson, Feyi-Waboso; Ford (co-capt), Spencer; Baxter, George (co-capt), Heyes, Coles, Isiekwe, Hill, Pepper, Willis

Replacements: Dan, Rodd, Davison, Cunningham-South, Kenningham, Dombrandt, Quirke, Beard

Red card: Feyi-Waboso (34)

France XV: Attissogbe; Moustin, Gailleton, Fickou, Duguivalu; Hastoy, Le Garrec; Erdocio, Barlot, Slimani, Auradou, Duguid, Fishcher, Tixeront, Guillard.

Replacements: G Marchand, Mallez, Bamba, Taofifenua, Van Tonder, Woki, Jauneau, Berdeu

Red card: Cameron Woki (54)

Referee: Hollie Davidson (Sco)

Assistant referees: Eoghan Cross (Ire) and Sam Grove White (Sco)

In Italy, those who violently abuse match officials could receive a time prison sentence.

On Friday, the Italian government made a change to its penal code to give match officials the same legal protection as police and other government officials.

As a result of the law change, who increased the number of referee assault cases, could face much harsher penalties for beating, punching, or threatening match officials.

“Sport is sharing and loyalty. According to junior justice minister Andrea Ostellari, those who don’t accept it are warned that violent behavior and aggression toward referees will be punished immediately and even be sent to prison.

Since December, the government has been in contact with the ISRA (Italians Soccer Referees Association).

In protest of the increase in abuse that Serie A referees in that month wore black smudges on their cheeks during matches to highlight the situation.

Referee Diego Alfonzetti, 19, was attacked last year in a youth game in Sicily.