St Helens fell to a 40-26 defeat against Widnes Vikings this afternoon to relinquish top spot in the Super League table.
The visitors were behind with just three minutes on the clock when Rhys Hanbury crossed the whitewash, but they hit back with tries of their own in a tightly-contested battle at the Select Security Stadium.
Lance Hohaia found the tryline with 14 minutes remaining to ensure a tense finale, but Macgraff Leuluai made sure of the points by adding try number seven late on for Widnes.
Leeds Rhinos capitalised on the Saints' loss by comfortably beating Salford Red Devils 32-4 at Headingley Carnegie Stadium.
Logan Tomkins cancelled out Kevin Sinfield's opening try on the half-hour mark, but Rhinos crossed over five more times in the second half to make sure of the points, with Tom Briscoe rounding off the scoring in the dying seconds.
Bottom-of-the-table Bradford Bulls suffered a heavy defeat at the hands of Wigan Warriors, losing 84-6 at the DW Stadium.
It took just five minutes for the Cherry & Whites to get up-and-running courtesy of Blake Green's try, before he and Anthony Gelling each completed a double in Wigan's 15-try romp over their struggling opponents.
Ryan Hampshire successfully kicked over eight times, while George Williams also found the sticks on four occasions to cement the emphatic scoreline.
Castleford Tigers eased past Warrington Wolves 40-6 to close in on the summit, with Michael Shenton completing a hat-trick of tries.
Michael Monaghan managed to pull the visitors right into the contest when he crossed over on 22 minutes, but Castleford showed their strength to win the match in a straight-forward fashion.
Meanwhile, Hull FC were also comfortable victors against London Broncos at the KC Stadium, seeing off their opponents 40-4.
The Black & Whites crossed the line four times in the first half, while adding three more tries in the second 40 courtesy of Jamie Shaul, Jacob Miller and Jordan Rankin.
Mason Caton-Brown added a consolation try for Broncos just short of the hour-mark, but they remain in trouble, second from bottom in the table.
Elsewhere, Huddersfield Giants registered a 36-16 victory over Wakefield Trinity Wildcats at the John Smiths Stadium in their six-try victory.
Jodie Broughton opened up the scoring inside eight minutes for the hosts, while two tries after the interval from Jason Chan and Shaun Lunt ensured that they took the points to lift them up to seventh in the table.
Results in full: Huddersfield Giants 36-16 Wakefield Trinity Wildcats, Hull FC 40-4 London Broncos, Leeds Rhinos 32-4 Salford Red Devils, Widnes Vikings 40-26 St Helens, Wigan Warriors 84-6 Bradford Bulls, Castleford Tigers 40-6 Warrington Wolves
Daniel Lewis
