Wolves wilt in South of France

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WARRINGTON Wolves never recovered from a

nightmare start in the South of France as they suffered their heaviest

defeat in more than three years going down 44-16 at Catalan Dragons.
For not the first time this season the Wolves were again guilty of gifting the opposition penalties and surenddering posssession as they were punished by the Dragons who scored tries after three and five minutes through Trent Henderson and Thomas Bosc, with Scott Durean landing one conversion.
The Wolves hit back on 13 minutes thanks to great work by Micky Higham who scored from close range as Hodgson’s conversion closed the gap to 10-6.
The Wolves, already missing Michael Monaghan, suffered a further setback with the loss of Richie Myler with a groin injury and found themselves further behind as Chris Riley dropped the ball with the try line at his mercy as the Dragons went up field and scored through Steve Menzies, with Durea ading the extras to make it 16-6.
Warrington were somewhat fortunate to get back in the game when a forward pass by Mike Cooper was not seen allowing Hodgson to slip a fine pass out wide for Riley to make amends for his previous fumble as he went in at the corner. Hodgson then landed a great conversion to make it 16-12 but it was a close as the Wolves were going to get.
Warrington conceeded again just before the break when Joel Monaghan and Hodgson failed to communicate to clear the danger of a high bomb, allowing the ball to bounce for former Wolves favourite Louis Anderson to pounce and score. Bosc added the conversion to make it 22-12 at the break leaving the Wolves with a massive uphill battle.
When the Dragons scored again five minutes after the re-start the writing was on the wall as Durea side stepped through a static defence with Sa Setaimata going over in the corner after great support play. Bosc couldn’t land the conversion but at 26-12 and a penalty count of 10-5 in favour of the home team there was little chance of a Warrington comeback.
The Wolves had a 15 minute spell of pressure but couldn’t find a way through, the closest they came to scoring was on Hodsgon got over the line but couldn’t get the ball down with Leon Pryce making a great try saving tackle to get his hand under the ball.
The Dragons then scored a break away try on 68 minutes through Daryl Millard, which was converted by Durea to make it 32-12 and game over as Warrington’s heads dropped.
As the Wolves wilted the Dragons added further tries through Sa and Menzies with young hooker Brad Dwyer getting a late consolation for the Wolves to complete the scoring at 44-12.

Pictures show try scorer Chris Riley, TV pundit Mike Stephenson with Wolf friend and a section of the Warrington following which was estimated at around 2,500 – 3,000 strong.

For more pictures CLICK HERE


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Experienced journalist for more than 40 years. Managing Director of magazine publishing group with three in-house titles and on-line daily newspaper for Warrington. Experienced writer, photographer, PR consultant and media expert having written for local, regional and national newspapers. Specialties: PR, media, social networking, photographer, networking, advertising, sales, media crisis management. Chair of Warrington Healthwatch Director Warrington Chamber of Commerce Patron Tim Parry Johnathan Ball Foundation for Peace. Trustee Warrington Disability Partnership. Former Chairman of Warrington Town FC.

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