WARRINGTON WOLVES 34 HULL KR 12
JAMES CHESTNEY, Halliwell Jones Stadium, Saturday

HULL KR’S run of six straight wins over Warrington came crashing down as the Wolves put in a performance that blew the champions away for two vital points in their hunt for Old Trafford.

Matty Ashton scored two tries – the first taking him to 100 for the club – of six by Warrington, who had the game all but won by half-time when they led 22-0.

It was an afternoon to forget for Mikey Lewis, as the Robins’ star man finished the game in the sin bin for a very late tackle on Ewan Irwin, and could also face repercussions for an apparent first-half headbutt on Adam Holroyd.

The visitors thought they had opened the scoring early on when a Lewis kick was allowed to bounce by Albert Hopoate only to be gathered by the on-running Oliver Gildart, but video referee Jack Smith ruled Gildart was in front of the kicker.

The Wolves made use of the next possession as they made their way downfield and a lovely pass from dummy-half by Danny Walker found Leon Hayes, who had Lachlan Webster on his inside finding a gap in the Robins line to open the scoring.

Irwin couldn’t add the conversion from out wide but it did not take the Wolves long to extend their advantage as, with a quarter of an hour gone, James Harrison, on the back of a penalty, found a huge hole in Rovers line and strolled through to ground the ball next to the posts. Irwin this time added the two points to give Warrington a ten-point lead.

With 15 minutes of the half remaining Hull KR thought they’d got back into the game as Lewis went for the corner but was held up by a resilient Wolves defence.

It was becoming a very good display by the Wolves and things got worse for the visitors with seven minutes to half-time as Ashton jinked his way round Mourgue to score with ease and Irwin added his second goal of the afternoon.

Just a minute later they were in again. A break by Toafofoa Sipley left him in yards of space and played a simple pass to Walker to race away and score. Irwin made it three from four to give his side a 22-0 half-time lead.

Rovers needed to start the second half strong if they were to get anything from this contest but it was the Wolves that bagged the first score of the half as Joe Philbin found his way over from close range and, with Irwin adding another goal, Warrington led 28-0.

Not since the 73rd minute of the Magic Weekend two weeks earlier had Hull KR scored a try but they finally broke that 148-minute duck when Oliver Gildart found his way over in the corner and Rhyse Martin added the extras.

Things got even worse for Rovers with eight minutes to go as Lewis was sent to the sin bin for his late shot on Irwin, who kicked the penalty to take the home side to 30 points.

The Wolves rounded off their afternoon with five minutes to play as Toby King put a grubber kick into the corner for Ashton to dive on the ball, although Irwin couldn’t convert.

It was the Robins who rounded off the scoring in the final minute with Tyrone May putting a kick through for James Batchelor to ground and Martin adding another two points.

GAMESTAR: Youngster Leon Hayes led Warrington round the park and set up vital tries.

GAMEBREAKER: Danny Walker’s try just before half-time put Warrington into an unassailable lead.

HIGHLIGHT REEL: Toafofoa Sipley’s break to charge down field and play in Danny Walker.

ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Leon Hayes (Warrington)
2 pts Ewan Irwin (Warrington)
1 pt Matty Ashton (Warrington)

MATCHFACTS

WOLVES
35 Lachlan Webster
5 Matty Ashton
3 Toby King
26 Josh Smith
4 Albert Hopoate
18 Ewan Irwin
19 Leon Hayes
16 Liam Byrne
9 Danny Walker
21 Luke Thomas
11 Adam Holroyd
10 James Harrison
13 Ben Currie
Subs (all used)
15 Toafofoa Sipley
20 James Bentley
22 Joe Philbin
34 Kelepi Tanginoa
18th man (not used)
31 Ben Hartill
Also in 21-man squad
1 Cai Taylor-Wray
7 Marc Sneyd
25 Max Wood

Tries: Webster (8), Harrison (15), Ashton (32, 74), Walker (34), Philbin (52)
Goals: Irwin 5/7

HULL KR
1 Arthur Mourgue
2 Tom Davies
17 Rhyse Martin
4 Oliver Gildart
21 Noah Booth
6 Mikey Lewis
7 Tyrone May
8 Sauaso Sue
9 Jez Litten
11 Dean Hadley
19 Karl Lawton
12 James Batchelor
13 Elliot Minchella
Subs (all used)
10 Tom Amone
14 Jack Broadbent
15 Sam Luckley
20 Jordan Dezaria
18th man (not used)
16 Jai Whitbread
Also in 21-man squad
5 Joe Burgess
22 Bill Leyland
34 Ryan Hampshire

Tries: Gildart (62), Batchelor (80)
Goals: Martin 2/2
Sin bin: Lewis (72) – late tackle

SCORING SEQUENCE: 4-0, 10-0, 16-0, 22-0; 28-0, 28-6, 30-6, 34-6, 34-12

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Wolves: Leon Hayes; Hull KR: Oliver Gildart

Penalty count: 8-4
Half-time: 22-0
Referee: Liam Moore
Attendance: 10,025