Reverse rugby league is back by popular demand and is the perfect way for Super League players recovering from injury or out of favour to get back to their best whilst providing fans with more rugby league to enjoy.
Today three reserve fixtures took place featuring five Super League clubs as Wakefield and Hull KR did battle, Huddersfield and Warrington tussled and Leeds met Bradford.
But which Super League stars featured and how did they fair?
In the first game of the day, Wakefield were comprehensive winners over Hull KR at Dewsbury’s Tetley’s Stadium. In Wakefield’s team Isaac Shaw featured having played against Catalans last week on the back of signing his inaugural first team contract going into this season. Meanwhile Yusuf Aydin, who figured a fair amount in 2021, also played but the big inclusion was of course Mason Lino.
It proved to be a fruitful afternoon for Lino as he scored as did Aydin as Trinity ploughed through Hull KR’s reserves securing a 42-16 triumph with the standout being two-try hero Lewis Murphy.
Lino’s performance will have certainly been encouraging especially with rumours linking him with a move away from Trinity and potentially to Toulouse. This showing perhaps shows he’s committed to getting back in Wakefield’s side after an injury hit start to the season.
Hull KR did also include a few players we’ve seen in Super League in the shape of Ethan Ryan and Will Tate whilst new signing and young fullback Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e featured.
Elsewhere, Huddersfield’s reserves defeated Warrington’s 22-18. The Giants included the likes of Louis Senior, Michael Lawrence and Jack Ashworth in their side with Senior catching the eye with a mesmeric individual try chipping over the top and collecting to open the scoring.
The Giants’ next try came off the back of a rampant run from Ashworth. The 2019 Grand Final winner returned to Huddersfield this winter after spending the end of 2021 on loan at Leigh.
In Warrington’s line-up there were a couple of surnames we’re used to seeing in Super League with Josh Thewlis’ brother Jake featuring at centre whilst Leeds Rhinos’ starlet Morgan Gannon’s brother Jacob also played. The bulk of their Super League experience came from Rob Butler which makes their battling efforts in this game even more impressive given the number of experienced players in Huddersfield’s side compared to only one in Warrington’s.
In the final game of the day, Leeds included Jack Broadbent in their side who has been unlucky to not feature yet for Leeds this season considering the injury to Harry Newman. He was one of Leeds’ most prolific scorers last season scoring four in the win over Leigh and seven in the space of four games at one stage last year. He was the Man of the Match crossing for a ha-trick.
He was joined by another player we’ve seen in Super League before in the shape of Corey Johnson who helped create the opening score for Mackenzie Turner. Johnson played for Leeds’ first team at Wigan last week as they lost 34-12.
Jack Sinfield, son of Leeds legend Kevin, also played his part in that opening try and scored himself as well as having a fruitful afternoon with the boot. He was one of a number of notable youngsters in the side such as Levi Edwards who created Broadbent’s first try. Max Simpson may also be a familiar name with the centre being included in Leeds’ last two 21-man squads.
Featherstone trio Kyle Trout, Loui McConnell and Tom Holmes also featured.
