Wigan survive best efforts of City Reds

Wigan Warriors returned to the top of the Tetley's Bitter Super League with a 30-18 victory but they were given a fright by the Salford City Reds at The Willows yesterday.

Wigan Warriors returned to the top of the Tetley's Bitter Super League with a 30-18 victory but they were given a fright by the Salford City Reds at The Willows yesterday.

Wigan swept into an early 12-0 lead as Tony Smith raced clear from dummy-half after only four minutes and Mick Cassidy was put in by Andy Farrell, who converted both tries.

Salford deservedly notched their opening try in the 36th minute when the outstanding Gary Broadbent took Paul Southern's pass to go over.

Jon Roper, making his debut on loan from Warrington, added the conversion to cut the gap to 12-6 at the break.

Farrell set up two tries in the opening eight minutes of the second half, with his chip ahead collected by Kris Radlinski and the full-back again going over in the 50th minute. Two Farrell conversions increased the lead to 24-6.

Salford refused to throw in the towel and they clawed back to 24-18 through tries from the outstanding Broadbent and Jason Nicol.

Roper added both goals, and Wigan faced a worrying last 10 minutes before Farrell waltzed through a rare gap in the Reds defence two minutes from time and added his fifth conversion from five attempts.

Halifax staged a dramatic late rally, spearheaded by their Australian scrum-half Andrew Dunemann, to snatch a 16-14 victory over Hull at The Boulevard.

In the battle for sixth place, Hull were 14-2 ahead with 15 minutes to go but a scrappy and sometimes ill-tempered game was turned on its head.

Damian Gibson gave Halifax some hope with a 65th-minute try and five minutes later Dunemann scored a dazzling 80-metre solo try.

It gave Halifax renewed hope as they only trailed by four points and five minutes from time Dunemann struck again. His high kick was missed by Hull's young full-back Craig Poucher and it presented Paul Rowley with a simple try. Jamie Bloem added the goal and that was enough to take the points back to Halifax.

Wakefield beat London Broncos for the second time in a month, this time by 22-0 at Belle Vue, to make it two wins from three meetings between the sides this term.

Brisbane Broncos, the best side in Australia all season, will take their place in the National Rugby League Grand Final on Sunday, but only after a hard-fought 16-10 victory over a stubborn Parramatta.

The Broncos led 12-0 through early tries from Darren Lockyer and Gorden Tallis, but the Eels, guided by the former Hull and Bradford coach, Brian Smith, showed great resilience to fight back with second-half touchdowns from their wingers, Luke Burt and Jason Moodie.

Clinton Schifcofske landed the first goal from the right touchline, but narrowly missed the potential equaliser from the opposite side.

As Parramatta tried to mount another attack, Dennis Moran lost the ball and Brad Thorne scored Brisbane's clinching try seven minutes from time.

The victory means that Michael Hancock's last game for the club before joining Salford on a two-year contract will be against the Sydney Roosters at Stadium Australia.

The Roosters, coached by Graham Murray, the former Leeds coach, came from 16-2 behind to beat Newcastle Knights 26-20 on Saturday.