Leaders Huddersfield Giants returned to winning ways with a vengeance on Friday night with a demolition job of champions Leeds Rhinos at Headingley.
Where Gareth Hock goes the headlines seem to follow and Friday's visit of the Bulls proved no different. Bradford looked to have the game in the bag courtesy of a 20-4 lead while on-loan Hock was given his marching order for dissent.
The Bulls had their tails up after ending Huddersfield's perfect start in round five, but Denis Betts' men are vastly-improved on their 2012 showing and second-half scores from Patrick Ah Van, Rhys Hanbury and Lloyd White pulled Widnes to within two points with Ah Van's late penalty ensuring the points were shared.
Hull FC answered their critics in style on Friday night with a one-sided win against a Castleford side who have struggled away from home this season. The game was all but over by half-time thanks to tries from Richard Horne, Joe Arundel and a double from Tom Lineham.
Lineham sealed his hat-trick before tempers flared when Danny Tickle and Weller Hauraki were both sent off while Mark O'Meley and Justin Carney were sin-binned. The absentees did not disrupt the Black and Whites' rhythm with Arundel also scoring a hat-trick with Danny Houghton and Josh Bowden completing the scoring.
The 2013 season has largely been a campaign of struggle so far for the Broncos and while the club are producing some of the best young talent in the country, their first-team results sees them bottom of the table with six games played.
Alex Brown did the damage for the visitors in the first half with a blistering hat-trick, although the Londoners showed some spirit in the second half to score tries through the exciting Kieran Dixon and Chris Bailey. However, KR were not about to repeat their display against Salford where they surrendered a big lead as tries from Liam Salter and Cory Paterson steadied the ship for Craig Sandercock's men.
Last but not least Wakefield hit back for a point after Salford threatened to win their first match away from home this season for large periods of the contest. It was Alan Hunte's first match in temporary charge of the side and he did his chances of landing the job on a permanent basis no harm after securing a draw.
It will be seen as a point gained for Salford as league leaders Huddersfield only came away from their trip to Wakefield with a two-point winning margin. Marc Sneyd's drop goal put the City Reds one point to the good late on, but Paul Sykes' even later drop goal rescued a draw.
