Warrington Wolves maintained their challenge to Super League leaders St Helens with a hard fought 25-12 victory against Wigan Warriors at the Halliwell Jones Stadium tonight.
The Wolves came into the game without Bryson Goodwin, who suffered an injury in the previous week’s game against Castleford Tigers, while Wigan were forced to make several changes from the team that lost at home to Huddersfield Giants.
Dom Manfredi (teeth), Liam Marshall (knee) and Sam Powell (ankle) all dropped out, with Ben Flower also dropping out late on, while Taulima Tautai is currently suspended. The Warriors welcome back Joe Greenwood, who missed the Huddersfield game with concussion, and they had winger Tom Davies, centre Dan Sarginson and halfback Jarrod Sammut back in the side.
By half-time Warrington had taken a 12-0 lead with tries from Jake Mamo and Stefan Ratchford, with Ratchford adding a goal to his own try and then adding a penalty just before half-time.
In the second half the lead was extended to 18 points when Josh Charnley took advantage of a dropped ball by Morgan Escaré.
But on 60 minutes Wigan roared back into the game with tries by Tom Davies and Willie Isa. Zak Hardaker converted both to make it 18-12 and the Wolves looked wobbly.
But Declan Patton steadied their nerves with a field goal before a brawl resulted in a red card for Ben Westwood and yellow cards for Willie Isa and Patton.
And the Wolves were able to clinch the game with two minutes remaining when Jack Hughes touched down for their fourth converted try.
Wolves: 1 Stefan Ratchford, 5 Josh Charnley, 18 Toby King, 4 Ryan Atkins, 22 Jake Mamo, 6 Blake Austin, 15 Declan Patton, 8 Chris Hill, 9 Daryl Clark, 10 Mike Cooper, 11 Ben Currie, 12 Jack Hughes,34 Ben Westwood; Subs (all used) 13 Ben Murdoch-Masila, 16 Lama Tasi, 17 Joe Philbin, 14 Jason Clark.
Tries: Mamo, Ratchford, Chanrley, Hughes Goals: Ratchford 4; Field Goal: Patton
Warriors: 20 Zak Hardaker, 2 Tom Davies, 3 Dan Sarginson, 4 Oliver Gildart, 1 Morgan Escaré, 6 George Williams, 37 Jarrod Sammut, 8 Tony Clubb, 7 Thomas Leuluai, 14 Romain Navarrete, 11 Joe Greenwood, 15 Willie Isa, 13 Sean O’Loughlin, Subs (all used) 16 Gabe Hamlin, 22 Joe Bullock, 24 Oliver Partington, 27 Jake Shorrocks.
Tries: Davies, Isa Goals: Hardaker 2
A full report, pictures and analysis from this game will feature in Monday’s edition of League Express
