WARRINGTON Wolves were left counting the cost of their 32-18 Boxing Day derby victory local rivals Widnes Vikings as scrum half Richie Myler suffered a dislocated elbow after just 29 minutes and is now likely to miss the start of the season.
Meanwhile two first-half tries from Rhys Evans (pictured above) helped Warrington on their way to a comfortable victory over their new Super League neighbours in front of 5,567 fans at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
New signing Stefan Ratchford (pictured right) made a quick impression, creating the early scores for winger Evans and Matty Blythe to put the Wolves into a 10-0 lead.
Widnes replied through Scott Moore and Thomas Coyle, with both tries converted by Patrick Ah Van, to edge the Vikings ahead.
Evans restored the Wolves’ lead making 16-12 at the break with his second try, while Moore was sin-binned on the stroke of half-time following a flare-up.
Rhys Williams and replacements Brad Dwyer and Ben Currie added tries for Warrington in the second half building up a 32-12 lead.
Widnes had a late consolation when Anthony Mullally went over for the last try of the match.
Meanwhile Myler was taken to hospital with his dislocated elbow which was described as a bad injury by Head of Coaching Tony Smith and he is now almost certain to miss the start of the season.
Wolves: Chris Riley; Rhys Evans, Matty Blythe, Ryan Atkins, Rhys Williams; Stefan Ratchford, Richie Myler; Mike Cooper, Mickey Higham, Chris Hill, Simon Grix, Tyrone McCarthy, Ben Harrison. Subs: Ben Evans, Danny Bridge, Ben Currie, Glenn Riley, Jordan Burke, Ben Hellewell, James Laithwaite, Ryan Shaw, Brooke Broughton, James Saltonstall, Brad Dwyer, James Mendeika.
Widnes: Danny Craven; Paddy Flynn, Stefan Marsh, Willie Isa, Patrick Ah Van; Anthony Watts, Lloyd White; Ben Kavanagh, Thomas Coyle, Ben Davies, Frank Winterstein, Macgraff Leuluai, Kurt Haggerty. Subs: Declan Hulme, Scott Moore, Hep Cahill, Anthony Mullally, Alex Gerrard, Jack Owens.
Mike Cooper takes on the Widnes defence
Rhys Evans out jumps the Widnes defence.
