WARRINGTON Wolves claimed their first ever Super League title with a convincing 12-34 victory at Hull’s KC Stadium cheered on by an estimated 5,000 travelling fans.
Five first half tries from Ryan Atkins, Chris Riley twice, Michael Monaghan and Chris Bridge, who landed three conversions, with Lee Briers slotting over a fourth, set Warrington on their way to their first ever League Leaders Shield and their first top of the table finish for 38 years!
Leading 6-28 at the break Hull had Warrington on the defensive for much of the second half.
But a tremendous defensive effort, which restricted Hull to just one second half try, helped clinch a famous victory as the Wolves finished off the match in style with good work from man-of-the-match Ryan Atkins (pictured above) and Lee Briers sending winger Joel Monaghan over for the final try of the game on 68 minutes, with Chris Bridge landing the extras.
It was Hull who started the game the brightest but they could not penetrate Warrington’s workmanlike defence.
It was tremendous defensive work by Atkins as he forced the Hull attackers back that led to the opening try on five minutes.
Atkins out muscled Joe Westerman and pinched the ball off him to race away to score under the sticks, giving Bridge the simplest of conversions to make it 0-6.
But Hull bounced back and briefly threatened to spoil the party as Westerman skipped through someweak tackling to score and then added the extras to level the scores on nine minutes.
Warrington were forced on the defensive for the next 10 minutes but regained the lead on 19 minutes when Bridge and Atkins combined to send Chris Riley (pictured) in at the corner.
Bridge was wide with the difficult conversion attempt – his first miss after 23 consecutive goals!
With the Wolves leading 6-10 substitute David Solomona had to be helped from the field after a clash of heads but Warrington managed to maintain their momentum as hooker Michael Monaghan managed to jink his way over by the posts, giving Bridge any easy conversion to make it 6-16 on 24 minutes.
Warrington again soaked up more pressure and then Atkins showed great strength and pace to burst down the wing to send the supporting Riley over for his second try which was goaled by Bridge to make it 6-22.
When Brett Hodgson broke clear just before the break to send Bridge over by the posts it was as good as game over, as Briers slotted over the extras to make it 6-28 at the break.
To their credit Hull never gave up and were duly rearded on 61 minutes as Westerman grabbed his second try which he also converted.
But it was then left to Monaghan to complete the scoring to send the massed ranks of Warrington fans into party mood.
One slight dampner on the night was Garreth Carvell being placed on report by referee Steve Ganson for what appeared to be a high tackle.
He now faces an anxious wait to see if he will be available for next Friday’s Play-off opener at home to Huddersfield Giants when Warrington will also be presented with the League Leaders Shield for the first time in the history of Super League – and for the first time in 38 years!
Matt King takes on the Hull defence
Michael Monaghan finds a way through
The Wolves’ fans celebrate
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4 Comments
Congratulations to Tony Smith and everyone at Warrington Wolves for giving the town a team we can all be proud of.
Good luck in the play offs and lets hope we can now see the club make their first ever Gand Final at Old Trafford!
Awesome season – well done to everyone connected with the club – we are now simply the best!
Finishing top of the league should be seen as the biggets achievement in the club’s recent history.
Champions !! I’ll never accept that anybody who finishes top of the pile aren’t champions..Imagine what Fergie’s reaction would be if Man U finished top and then were told the had to win a knock out tournament which by some fluke Aston Villa won and Aston Villa were then declared champions..The air would be blue and quite right too. Against my better judgement I watched RL extra on the red button and to be honest I wasn’t surprised at the reaction of one Phil Clarke…*Ah but would Warrington Wolves be able to handle the pressure of the play-offs?* This man would rather eat dirt than give Wire any credit…How does he think that Wire finished top of the pile without handling pressure ? The man’s a complete dolt who, if it isn’t Wigan it isn’t worth a carrot…He is added to my list of heads I would enjoy stamping on. Metaphorically speaking of course.
Fantastic – it’s incredible to think how far they have come in such a short space of time – having said that a big factor of their nea misses had always been I think a lack of belief – the raw material was always bumbling under – they used to always nearly win matches and then lose at the end. They now have the belief and confidence to see it through. And I agree with safeways 56 comment’s about ‘not being champions’ we are – and as for not being able to play under pressure in knock out – just read what it says on the signs when you come into town – winning back to back cup runs like that is dealing with pressure.
Now is there enough room on those signs for an extra line of success?