| Betfred Super League |
|---|
| Warrington (13) 19 |
| Tries: Clark, Lineham, Charnley Goals: Ratchford 3 Drop goal: Austin |
| St Helens (0) 0 |
Warrington Wolves pulled off their first win of the season thanks to a dominant performance against reigning Super League champions St Helens.
Daryl Clark crossed over for the hosts’ first try in an edgy first half before Tom Lineham touched down moments later.
Josh Charnley went over for a further Warrington try after the break as Steve Price’s side swiftly took control.
Jonny Lomax almost got Saints on the scoreboard but could not ground the ball as they finished without a point.
The result was the first time St Helens have finished a league match without a point since their 25-0 defeat by Wigan in August 2016.
St Helens were left without prop Alex Walmsley just before kick-off when he pulled his calf in the warm-up and was replaced by Matty Lees in the starting line-up.
It took 18 minutes for the first points of the game when Ratchford kicked the Wire 2-0 up after a high tackle from Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook on Blake Austin was penalised.
Clark thought he had crossed seven minutes later but was well held up by the Saints defence. However, the hooker successfully touched down soon after as Warrington asserted themselves.
The hosts were edged out by Wigan during the season’s opener and faced off against a Saints side that thrashed Salford 48-8, but Warrington dominated much of the match.
Saints, who were defeated by the Wire in last season’s Challenge Cup final but went on to beat Salford in the 2019 Grand Final, saw their task made harder in the early stages of the second half.
Kristian Woolf’s side lost Mark Percival to a chest injury just a minute into the second period while Charnley’s try put the Wolves out of sight.
Lomax nearly crossed over during a late Saints charge with two minutes remaining but he was successfully held up by characteristic good defending from Warrington.
Warrington head coach Steve Price told BBC Radio 5 Live:
“I’m very pleased. To keep a quality team like St Helens to zero points is very pleasing and to back it up, it was a really good performance last week even though we were beaten.
“We can go down swinging after a loss like that last week but it was a really solid performance tonight.
“I thought Matty Ashton was superb tonight, Mike Cooper had to play some big minutes through the middle third and Daryl Clark had some big moments. The most pleasing thing was we were playing with courage with the football.”
St Helens boss Kristian Woolf told BBC Radio Merseyside:
“It’s disappointing. I didn’t think we played well at all. We were extremely ill disciplined with the ball and a bit the same without it.
“We did some uncharacteristic things but, what, I’m not exactly sure. It was certainly a disappointing performance.
“It’s a challenge [losing Alex Walmsley] as he’s a good player and a real leader in our group. But it’s something we have to get over quickly and handle better than what we showed we did tonight.”
Warrington: Ashton, Charnley, Gelling, King, Lineham, Austin, Ratchford, Philbin, D Clark, Cooper, Currie, Murdoch-Masila, J Clark.
Interchanges: Akauola, Walker, Burrell, Davis.
St Helens: Welsby, Naiqama, Costello, Percival, Grace, Lomax, Fages, Lees, Bentley, Thompson, Taia, Peyroux, McCarthy-Scarsbrook.
Interchanges: Batchelor, Ashworth, Paulo, Smith.
Referee: Chris Kendall.
