Former Cronulla NRL player Brett Kearney crossed twice as Bradford moved back into Super League semi-final contention with a thrilling 46-32 win over slumping Castleford on Monday.
Castleford have lost five of their past six matches and it was former Newcastle Knight Keith Lulia who opened the floodgates as he barged over for the first for the Bulls in what ended up being nine tries in the first half.
Also crossing for the Bulls were Shaun Ainscough, who added a hat-trick, and Olivier Elima who notched his first try of the season.
For the Tigers, Rangi Chase looked somewhere near the form which won him last year’s Man of Steel award, the former St George Illawarra back crossing for two of the visitors’ five tries.
On Sunday, Cameron Phelps scored with one minute remaining as Widnes brought an end to their seven-match losing run with a 26-22 win against Huddersfield.
The Giants appeared to be cruising to their 11th win of the season after tries from Dale Ferguson, David Fa’alogo and Scott Grix helped put them 22-20 ahead.
However the Vikings, who registered through a try and four goals from former Warriors’ winger Patrick Ah Van and scores from Australian duo Rhys Hanbury and Ben Cross, had other ideas.
Indeed, it was only until two Danny Brough goals in the last eight minutes that Huddersfield took the lead for the first time with Ferguson’s late try and Ah Van’s conversion sealing a welcome win.
Elsewhere at the bottom, there was to be no such surprise as Ali Lauitiiti, who made more than 100 NRL appearances for the Warriors, grabbed a try in Wakefield’s comfortable 24-6 win over London Broncos.
In a drama-filled Sunday, Hull KR held off high-flying Warrington 23-22 thanks to Michael Dobson – who held his nerve to slot a late field goal.
Rovers appeared dead and buried trailing 22-6 at halftime, Josh Hodgson scoring their sole try as Gareth O’Brien, Ben Westwood and Chris Riley’s double put the Wolves firmly in control.
However, Warrington mustered nothing after the break and, when Dobson crossed in the 49th minute, Sam Latus and Craig Hall quickly followed suit with the Aussie converting two to pull the scores level.
And Dobson had the final say, slotting the winning field goal with six minutes left while Rovers’ chiefs rivals Hull FC drew 18-18 with St Helens, Thomas Makinson kicking a late penalty to salvage something for the Saints.
On Friday, it was far easier for Wigan who beat Leeds 50-8 with Thomas Leuluai, who will return to the Warriors next season, grabbing two tries.
Jeff Lima, George Carmont, Anthony Gelling and Brett Finch were also among the eight scorers, while Salford upset the Catalan Dragons with a 34-30 home win.