Magic Weekend Day One Round Up

Catalans Dragons were the big winners on Day One of the 2023 Magic Weekend at St James' Park as they moved top of the Betfred Super League table following an impressive 22-46 victory over Wigan Warriors.

Dragons winger Tom Johnstone was in fine form crossing for a hat-trick on route to being voted as the Player of the Match. Matt Whitley notched a double whilst Sam Tomkins, Arthur Mourge and Artur Romano were also on the scoresheet for Steve McNamara's men.

Catalans led 8-46 on the hour-mark but the Warriors did close the scoreline slightly thanks to tries from Abbas Miski, Liam Marshall and Morgan Smithies. Bevan French scored before half-time whilst Jake Wardle crossed for the first try of the game after nine minutes.

The win saw the Dragons jump above Warrington on points difference with the Wolves set to face Hull FC on Day Two of the Magic Weekend.

Castleford Tigers completed a late comeback over Leeds Rhinos to earn just their third win of the Betfred Super League season. A Gareth Widdop conversion following a Jason Qareqare score proved the difference between the sides.

Leeds led 12-10 at the interval with both sides crossing twice. Derrell Olpherts and James Bentley were the Rhinos first half try-scorers with Jacob Miller and Elliot Wallis putting the Tigers on the scoreboard.

The back-and-forth continued after the break with Rhyse Martin and Mikolaj Oledzki scoring either side of an Alex Mellor try. Mellor would score a second with ten minutes remaining which proved the catalyst for a Cas resurgence capped off with Qareqare's score in the corner.

Salford Red Devils began the day with a 26-16 defeat of Hull Kingston Rovers which saw them leapfrog the Robins in the Betfred Super League table. Marc Sneyd's boot proved crucial for the Red Devils with the halfback kicking seven goals, including three penalty goals. 

KR led narrowly at the break with Elliot Minchella and George King going over inside the first 40 with Joe Burgess clocking Salford's solitary first half effort. 

Ryan Hall gave Robins the lead with 15 minutes remaining, but two fantastic breakaway tries finished by Ken Sio and Chris Atkin respectively meant Paul Rowley's side pulled away in the latter stages. 

The attendance for Day One of Magic Weekend was 36,943 with a record of over 17,000 in St James' Park for the opener between Salford and Hull KR.