Thursday night saw top placed Warrington Wolves take on a St Helens side currently languishing in eighth spot after a disappointing start to their 2023 campaign. Both sides came into the game on the back of losses, Warrington having fallen to the Wigan Warriors last time out while St Helens were well beaten by Hull KR.
The bookies struggled to split the two sides but leaned towards a home win, giving the Wolves a two-point start on the coupon. Daryl Powell didn´t want to make it consecutive losses for his Wolves side, and Paul Wellens was even keener to avoid a third consecutive loss for Saints for the first time since August 2017.
The stage was set for a belter.
After an evenly matched opening few minutes, a rare wayward pass from George Williams was intercepted by a grateful Konrad Hurrell who had a clear forty metre run to the Warrington line to score the opening try of the game on nine minutes. Bennison was unable to kick the conversion, drifting his effort across the front of the sticks.
Four minutes later and a moment of Jonny Lomax brilliance registered the second try of the game as he dummied and stepped to go in from ten metres, scoring next to the left upright. This time Jon Bennison was on target for a 10-0 scoreline.
On seventeen a Lomax high kick wasn´t dealt with by the Warrington defence and possession regained by Tee Ritson. On the fourth tackle a delightful Jack Welsby kick to the corner was taken in goal in a sea of defenders and grounded by Will Hopoate. Bennison added the extras for 16-0, the home side totally dominant.
Warrington were finally on the board on twenty-four thanks to an acrobatic Matty Russell try, the one hundredth of his career, after taking a great pass from Matt Dufty. Stefan Ratchford added the goal from the touchline to reduce the arrears to ten points.
A Danny Walker 40-20 on thirty-four minutes gave the Wolves great field position but the visitors couldn´t capitalise and remained 16-6 down at half time.
Three minutes after the restart, Saints extended the lead thanks to an outrageous dummy from Bennison, bought totally by Dufty, to go in from forty metres but he couldn´t add the conversion to his own try.
A foolish Sam Kasiano double-movement, trying to crawl over the line on the second play of a set, didn´t fool the referee and another Wolves attack broke down with the line begging.
A Warrington ball steal over their own line on sixty-three presented Joey Lussick with the perfect opportunity to add another two to the Saints score, there was now no way back for the visitors and they conceded a fifth try of the night in the final minute as Ritson collected a Hurrell pass off his boot laces to dive in at the corner. Lussick added the touchline goal for a final score of 28-6.
A great win for Saints as they start to rediscover some form and cause some food for thought for the current league leaders and their coach. The Saints are now up to fifth in the table and will be feeling much happier than when they were languishing in eighth. Warrington have now lost two on the bounce, after winning their opening eight of the season, and while it isn´t time to press the panic button there will be some concern about where the intensity has gone, and where the errors have come from. With it almost an inevitability that Wigan will beat Wakefield on Sunday afternoon, it will likely be the Warriors who end the round at the top of the table.
St Helens: Welsby, Ritson (T), Hurrell (T), Hopoate (T), Bennison (T, 2G), Lomax (T), Dodd, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Roby, Lees, Royle, Batchelor, Bell. Subs: Lussick (2G), Baxter, Delaney, Bruines. 18th Man: Hill.
Warrington Wolves: Dufty, Russell (T), Minikin, Ratchford (G), Ashton, Williams, Drinkwater, Harrison, Walker, McGuire, Currie, Nicholson, Clark. Subs: Thewlis, Mata´utia, Kasiano, Green. 18th Man: Thomas.
Half-Time: 16-6.
Full-Time: 28-6.
Score Progression: 4-0, 8-0, 10-0, 14-0, 16-0, 16-4, 16-6 : HT : 20-6, 22-6, 26-6, 28-6: FT.
Lead Exchanges: St Helens.
Referee: Jack Smith.
