Serious About Rugby League’s Super League Team of the Week is in for round eight, with a number of youngsters rightfully earning their spots in this week’s selections.

The week kicked off with St Helens defeating Hull FC at the MKM Stadium. A depleted Red Vee managed to take the points against an FC side who couldn’t quite get the job done in John Cartwright’s final match at the helm.

Friday saw wins for Hull KR, who beat Toulouse Olympique 46-0, Leeds Rhinos, who overcame Huddersfield Giants 56-22 and Leigh Leopards, who defeated York Knights 18-6.

Wakefield Trinity asserted their dominance over Bradford Bulls, winning 52-12, whilst upset wins came for Catalans Dragons and Castleford Tigers, who beat Warrington Wolves and Wigan Warriors respectively.

Following the performances in those games, we have selected our best XIII, with selections coming from all seven victorious clubs. Wakefield have the most inclusions with three, whilst Castleford’s shock win has seen two players make this week’s squad.

Super League round eight Team of the Week

Full-back: Josh Rourke (Wakefield Trinity)

With Max Jowitt out with a minor knock, Rourke stepped up in his place, and produced one of his best efforts in a Wakefield shirt this weekend.

Scoring a try and assisting four more, the playmaker had a heavy involvement in Trinity’s attacking success against Bradford. His kick over the top to set up Tom Johnstone’s try was exemplary, and it even took boss Daryl Powell by surprise.

Wingers: Tom Johnstone (Wakefield Trinity) and Oliver Pratt (Wakefield Trinity)

We promise this squad isn’t just made up of Wakefield players, however there could have been a few other men that made this team given such an impressive effort.

Two men who do get in though, are wing pair Johnstone and Pratt, with the former crossing for four tries, including an 18-minute hat-trick, and the latter also scoring three of his own.

It’s not just their try-scoring ability that gets them in this team though, with their metres out of back-field just as important to Wakefield when they begin their sets.

Johnstone ran for a total of 243 metres, whilst Pratt ran for 102 – though did have six less carries and two less line breaks than his opposite wingman.

Centres: Krystian Mapapalangi (Castleford Tigers) and Solomona Faataape (Catalans Dragons)

Regardless of whether Castleford perform, one man who always shows up is Mapapalangi, and he is consistently proving to be one of the best centres in the competition.

Scoring twice in the win over Wigan, the former Newcastle Knights man ran for 139 metres, just one behind fellow centre Darnell McIntosh.

Faataape didn’t manage to find the whitewash himself, but he did set up two tries, including finding a lovely offload to Lewis Dodd as the Dragons completed a second-half comeback against Warrington.

Halves: Brodie Croft (Leeds Rhinos) and Lewis Dodd (Catalans Dragons)

Croft crossed four times for Leeds on Friday night, as he produced one of the best efforts of his career in blue and amber.

Dodd meanwhile bagged a second-half hat-trick and assisted another as he helped the French side sink the Wolves, who were league leaders heading into round eight.

Props: Noah Stephens (St Helens) and George Lawler (Castleford Tigers)

One of two young Saints men in this team, Stephens has stepped his performances up a level this season, and after impressing in defeat to Hull KR, excelled against Super League’s other Hull club.

Scoring a try in the win, arguably his most memorable moment in the game was a crunching tackle on fellow youngster Matty Laidlaw, who carried the ball in from a goal line drop out and was met by a charging Stephens who sat the FC man on the ground.

Lawler crossed for a second-half try in Cas’ win, and the versatile forward was impressive in the middle of the field. The Tigers pack managed to get on top of Wigan’s, a feat not many teams can say they can do, especially at the Brick Community Stadium.

Hooker: Jez Litten (Hull KR)

Litten consistently shows why he is one of if not the best hooker in Super League, after nohing up a try and an assist in France this weekend.

The England international also made 30 tackles, whilst he made an average of 11 metres per carry, highlighting his ability to cause problems when running from dummy half.

Back-r0w: Jacob Alick-Wiencke (Leigh Leopards) and Jake Davies (St Helens)

PNG forward Alick-Wiencke makes the side after a solid display in Leigh’s win over York. Scoring the away side’s final try of the game, the off-season recruit also ran for 160 metres and made 31 tackles.

Partnering Stephens in this week’s pack is fellow Saints youngster Davies, who made his first Saints start on Thursday evening. Crossing for Saints’ opening try, Davies ran for 100 metres, made a line break and completed 22 tackles.

Loose forward: Elliot Minchella (Hull KR)

The skipper returned to the side with a bang, and after scoring the first points of the game could have had a second shortly after, though that was ruled out by the video referee.

The former Leeds and Bradford man also made 27 tackles and ran for 80 metres, forming part of an impressive pack effort.