Superleague XVIII Round twenty had a bit of everything.

There were some big shocks with Castleford Tigers beating the Wigan Warriors at the usually impregnable DW Stadium and Hull KR snatched the points at Langtree Park against a Saints side who continue to show patchy form.

There was some dire rugby as the Catalans Dragons capitulated to the Huddersfield Giants, the Widnes Vikings slept through the first half in defeat against the Leeds Rhinos, and Hull FC fought out a close finish with Wakefield Wildcats as both had error strewn games.

It’s a funny old game.

The round started with three fixtures and dished out two of the shock results. The biggest upset being in Wigan where Daryl Powell’s side kept the Warriors pointless in the first half as they went 12-0 ahead through Dixon and Millington tries and two conversions.

The lead had been extended to 16-0 by Clare after fifty before Charnley got the only points of the night for the Warriors on the hour mark. A last minute penalty goal sealed a memorable win for the Tigers by 18-4 over a side missing their talisman Sam Tomkins, proving the adage that the Warriors can’t win without Tomkins.

Down the road at Langtree Park the Saints were also suffering. Just under eleven thousand saw the Robins open up an 18-0 half time lead with four pointers from Burns, Brown and Eden.

The Saints rescued some second half pride thanks to tries from Meli and Laffranchi but Dobson kicked four second half penalties to help his side to a convincing 24-12 win and plunge Saints back into the dogfight for eighth place.

[PIC1]SKY had chosen the game at the John Smiths Stadium in Huddersfield as the second placed Giants welcomed the Dragons in fifth. It should have been a classic but was far from it as the Dragons shipped in sixty points in a game where we almost had a point a minute.

Ferres and McGillvary both got hat-tricks for the home side as Murphy, George, Lunt and Cudjoe got singles on the score-sheet. Danny Brough took the Giants match goal scoring record with ten goals and made the Giants comfortable winners, reducing the gap to Wigan to just a point.

Duport, Vaccari, Bosc and Taia all scored for the visitors but Bosc failed to convert a single try on a miserable night for the French.

Saturday afternoon saw the basement battle as the Reds visited the Broncos and secured themselves a happy journey home as they lifted themselves off the bottom.

[PIC2]The Reds were 28-0 ahead through Gaskell (2), Gibson, Broughton and Godwin before the Broncos registered their first try through Dollapi. There was a second half London fight back with tries from Bishay, Fairbank, Soward and Sargison but the Reds had also added tries from Gaskell (his third), Broughton (his second) and Fages to seal a solid victory.

Perhaps Mr Koukash will have a quieter week?

[PIC3]Sunday witnessed a points-fest at Widnes as the Rhinos launched a first half demolition of the Vikings before letting the home side back into the game in the second half.

The Rhinos were scoring at will as they opened up a 38-0 lead with tries from Moon (2), Sutcliffe (2), Burrow, Hall and Hardaker. As the half-time hooter warmed up, Widnes skipper Brown did manage to get over the whitewash but it looked as though it would be mere consolation.

Early in the second half the Rhinos extended the lead to 48-8 through Jones-Bishop and Burrow, but then Widnes found the form which had deserted them for the opening hour and gained some scoreline respectability.

Tries from Brown (2), Hock (2) and Hanbury, all converted by Owens would only find a solitary Leeds try from the returning Kallum Watkins in response as the game ended 52-36 to the Rhinos. Brian McDermott will have been relieved that the second half wasn’t ten minutes longer or his side could well have been in trouble.

[PIC4]One game which did go to form was Warrington Wolves visit to the Bradford Bulls, but the winning margin was perhaps lower than many would have expected.

It was a slow start to the game which was pointless until Currie went over for the visitors on twenty-two minutes. There were then three tries within ten minutes from Briers, Michael Monaghan and Waterhouse to give the Wolves a 20-0 lead at the interval.

Ryan Atkins added a fifth Warrington try on fifty minutes and the conversion took the lead to 26-0. The points in the bag, the Wolves eased up and allowed Walker and Donaldson to get late consolations and some respectability in the final score line of 26-12.

The weekend was completed with the live SKY game on Monday night as the Wakefield Wildcats travelled to Hull FC with a chance of narrowing the gap on the Saints and a top eight spot.

It was a game of errors and penalties that culminated in a nail-biting finish.

Neither side could get control of the game with the lead changing hands three times. Tries from Fox, Sykes and Wilkes against two from Crooks and Lineham had given the visitors a 16-10 half tie lead but with a minute to go the scores were level at 26-26 as Lee Smith and Fox (his second) tries were cancelled out by efforts from Crooks (2) and Yeaman. For the second week running Crooks got a hat-trick and was still on the losing side.

Lee Smith kicked a drop goal from twenty metres out with just over a minute remaining after McDonnell had gifted the Wildcats possession. The Wildcats managed to run down the clock, despite a valiant effort from the home side, and took the points back to West Yorkshire.

The race for the eight is really hotting up while the sides at the top jostle for position.