| Warrington (19) 37 |
| Tries: Cooper, Ashton, Mamo 2, Latu, Austin Goals: Ratchford 5, Patton Drop-goal: Austin |
| Hull FC (12) 12 |
| Tries: Griffin, Tuimavave Goals: Connor 2 |
Warrington climbed to second in Super League after a commanding second-half display proved too much for Hull FC.
Both sides led in an intriguing first half as Hull tries from Josh Griffin and Carlos Tuimavave were answered by Mike Cooper and Matty Ashton.
But Wolves led 19-12 at the break after Jake Mamo went over and Blake Austin added a drop-goal.
Warrington went on to dominate the second half, with further tries from Mamo, Leilani Latu and Austin.
The only sour note for Warrington, who have won six straight games either side of the coronavirus lockdown to move up from ninth in the table, was having playmaker Declan Patton placed on report by referee Ben Thaler following an allegation of biting by Hull forward Ligi Sao.
The incident happened in the first half when Sao appeared to be holding Patton, who was making his first appearance of the season, in a choke tackle.
Weakened Warrington went into the game without seven self-isolating players, including Chris Hill, Jack Hughes, Jason Clark, Joe Philbin, Matt Davis and Sammy Kibula, after six had to self-isolate after track and trace analysis from Sunday’s win over Wakefield, while an unnamed seventh tested positive for Covid-19 this week.
However, their decision not to call the game off was vindicated, even if they got off to the worst possible start when Griffin fought his way over in the corner to give Hull a second-minute lead.
The Black and Whites’ advantage did not last long as Cooper powered over under the posts and Ashton dropped on a loose ball after Hull failed to deal with a teasing Austin kick.
Hull levelled when Kelly created the space for Tuimavave to cross unopposed, and even after Mamo raced in to restore Wolves’ lead, Austin’s decision to drop a goal just before the half-time hooter indicated how tight the game was.
But Warrington, who won 38-4 in the previous meeting at the KCOM Stadium in March, which resulted in Hull coach Lee Radford being sacked immediately after the game, showed their power after the break to ease clear.
Mamo grabbed his second when he reacted quickest to pounce on Ben Currie’s grubber kick and Latu capitalised on a Cooper offload to mark his debut with a try.
Austin wrapped up victory when Daryl Clark put him through a gap late on to further dent eighth-placed Hull’s hopes of reaching the play-offs.
Post-match reaction
Warrington coach Steve Price:
“I think we had 11 players out but we have a responsibility to keep game afloat. We’ve got to finish the season and keep people in jobs.
“I’m super proud of all 17 players. I didn’t even speak about what happened in the week.
“I had the utmost confidence that they would do a job. I thought they were superb. Defensively we were strong to keep them to zero on the second half.
“Our senior players really stood up. Mike Cooper has been really consistent for us and he had to stand up tonight. He’s a man who leads by his actions.”
Hull coach Andy Last:
“I just felt Warrington were a bit better than us physically. We couldn’t match them.
“They did a better job at getting field position and dominating field position and we couldn’t get ourselves in that set-for-set battle.
“The two weeks in isolation prevented us getting some work in. We had a good performance against Huddersfield but the challenge is for the young blokes to back it up and we couldn’t quite play with the same intensity against a really physical Warrington team.”
On biting allegation against Declan Patton:
Steve Price: “I felt it was a bit of a crusher tackle. His head was getting pushed down into the arm of Ligi Sau and he doesn’t wear a mouth guard. I don’t see anything coming of it.”
Andy Last: “I’ve not looked at the incident back. Ligi seems to think Dec bit him. He was trying to get in close and he may have had a bit of a nibble but I can’t really comment with any conviction.”
Warrington: Ashton, Lineham, Gelling, Mamo, Charnley, Austin, Patton, Latu, Clark, Cooper, Currie, King, Ratchford.
Interchanges: Walker, Johnson, Robson, Longstaff
Hull: Shaul, Swift, Tuimavave, Griffin, Faraimo, Kelly, Connor, Sao, Johnstone, Brown, Lane, Ma’u, Fash
Interchanges: Bowden, Buchanan, Fonua, Houghton.
Referee: Ben Thaler (RFL)
