A hat-trick of tries from winger Joel Monaghan saw Warrington Wolves safely through to the quarter-finals of the Carnegie Challenge Cup with a 32-16 victory over Bradford Bulls.
The Bulls looked capable of pulling off a shock as they led 6-4 four minutes before the break but Warrington hit a purple patch running in four tries in 14 minutes to establish a 26-6 lead.
While Bradford finished a well-beaten side they had the better of the first half, with former London Broncos half-back Luke Gale having a big influence on his return from two months out with an ankle injury.
The Bulls could have built up a bigger lead but Centre Adrian Purtell was denied an early try when video referee Steve Ganson ruled a knock-on over the line.
But he made amends on 12 minutes when picking up a loose ball to race over from 20 metres for the opening score following a ball steal from Ben Westwood by co-centre Keith Lulia.
Gale added the difficult conversion to give the Bulls a deserved 6-0 lead, but Warrington gradually clawed their way into the game, aided by a succession of penalties.
Warrington pulled a try back through Monaghan after 22 minutes and England second rower Ben Westwood would have added a second but, instead of touching down, he placed the ball on the foot of defender Jamie Langley.
Just when it seemed Bradford might hang on to their lead until the break, the Wolves struck two ultimately decisive blows in the last four minutes of the half.
Full-back Brett Hodgson caught the Bradford defence flat-footed after picking up a stray pass to cross for a try and in the last action of the half winger Chris Riley swooped on a fumble by Bulls prop Bryn Hargreaves to sprint 50 metres for a gift score.
Instead of leading 6-4, the Yorkshiremen suddenly found themselves trailing 16-6 after both conversions were landed by Hodgson, and the game slipped beyond them when they conceded two further tries within 10 minutes of the re-start.
Monaghan grabbed his second, touching down Hodgson’s grubber kick, and former Bradford centre Ryan Atkins scored straight from a scrum, awarded after a knock-on by prop Tom Burgess.
Hodgson kicked his third goal to make it 26-6, but the Bulls responded with the best try of the match from Lulia, who finished off a six-man handling move.
Bradford could have forced their way back into the game had Heath L’Estrange and Craig Kopczak been able to ground the ball but both were held up over the line.
Briers looked to have scored after regathering his own kick but his try was disallowed for a knock-on by Monaghan.
Warrington were reduced to 12 men on 65 minutes when prop Chris Hill was sin-binned for interference and the Bulls took advantage by scoring a try through Oliver Elima.
Gale kicked his second goal but Warrington put the game out of reach when Monaghan crossed in the corner a minute from the end to complete his hat-trick, with Hodgson, who had just been announced man-of-the-match before the try, taking his goal tally to four from seven attempts.
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