WARRINGTON WOLVES underlined their credentials in 2023 with an emphatic 42-10 thrashing of Leeds Rhinos.
Warrington set the tone early on as they began the brighter of the two sides with Matt Dufty crossing in the fourth minute after a superb Ben Currie break. Stefan Ratchford converted for a 6-0 lead.
Ratchford added a penalty moments later to make it 8-0 as the Wolves turned the screw with Daryl Clark jumping out of dummy-half to stretch Warrington’s lead further.
Skipper Ratchford added the extras with Warrington now leading 14-0.
Things got even worse for the visitors on 21 minutes when Josh Thewlis finished acrobatically in the corner after great work by Clark, but this time Ratchford couldn’t convert.
18-0 down became 24-0 on the half-hour mark as Danny Walker finished off his own little kick through with Ratchford adding the extras.
The only blot on Warrington’s copybook was a dislocated shoulder to Matty Nicholson, however, after being denied a minute earlier, Sam Kasiano was able to pluck a George Williams kick out of the air and make matters even worse for Leeds. Ratchford converted to make it 30-0 at the break.
With the second-half in full flow, the Rhinos seemingly had no answer until Derrell Olpherts finished superbly in the corner just before the hour. Rhyse Martin converted as the deficit was reduced to 24.
That just merely delayed the inevitable, though, with James Harrison charging onto a short ball to dot down under the posts. Ratchford was on target to make it 36-6.
Greg Minikin rubbed salt into the wounds on 66 minutes with a determined run to the line, though Justin Sangare capped off a great debut with his own effort with eight minutes to go.
Martin’s conversion went wide as Warrington led 42-10.
Warrington Wolves
1 Matt Dufty
2 Josh Thewlis
3 Peter Mata’utia
4 Stefan Ratchford
5 Matty Ashton
6 George Williams
7 Josh Drinkwater
18 Tom Mikaele
9 Daryl Clark
10 Paul Vaughan
11 Ben Currie
12 Matty Nicholson
8 James Harrison
Substitutes
14 Sam Kasiano
16 Danny Walker
19 Joe Bullock
21 Greg Minikin
Tries: Dufty, Clark, Thewlis, Walker, Kasiano, Harrison, Minikin
Goals: Ratchford 7/8
Leeds Rhinos
1 Richie Myler
24 Luis Roberts
2 David Fusitu’a
5 Ash Handley
16 Derrell Olpherts
6 Blake Austin
7 Aidan Sezer
18 Tom Holroyd
9 Kruise Leeming
15 Sam Lisone
20 Morgan Gannon
12 Rhyse Martin
10 Zane Tetevano
Substitutes
13 Cameron Smith
14 Jarrod O’Connor
17 Justin Sangare
25 James Donaldson
Tries: Olpherts, Sangare
Goals: Martin 1/2
Referee: Liam Moore
Video referee: Jack Smith
Venue: Halliwell Jones Stadium
Scoring sequence: 6-0, 8-0, 14-0, 18-0, 24-0, 30-0; 30-6, 36-6, 42-6, 42-10
