WARRINGTON Wolves regained the local bragging rights with a 44-6 thrashing of Widnes on a glorious Good Friday in what Head of Coaching Tony Smith described as the “best performance of the season.”
Gareth O’Brien, (pictured top) starting at half-back in place of Richie Myler, scored one of four first half tries, as Wolves went in 24-0 at the break.
A Rhys Evans brace and further scores from Ben Currie and Ryan Atkins rounded off a resounding victory, which sees Warrington leapfrog their opponents in the Super League table.
O’Brien opened the scoring inside five minutes, just about finding the whitewash under pressure from two Widnes defenders, and he turned provider for the second try, kicking for Joel Monaghan to score in the corner.
Monaghan’s brother Michael burrowed over from dummy half under the posts after 18, as the Wolves raced away at a point a minute.
Both sides had tries disallowed, before Chris Bridge backed up a break by Mickey Higham to score, after the Wolves had seen off a sustained spell of Vikings pressure.
The scoring continued four minutes in to the second half when Evans crossed for the first of his two tries on the left hand, and Widnes’ woe was perhaps best summed up by Currie’s try shortly before the hour, the Scotland international touching down after Jack Owens and Rhys Hanbury had made a mess of a kick return.
Moments later, Evans had another walk in on the left to put the Wolves 38-0 up on 60 minutes.
Widnes at least managed to give their travelling support something to cheer about late on, Paddy Flynn racing in at the right corner, but the Wolves had the last say, Atkins (pictured right) powering over under the posts after Ben Evans stole the ball from Lloyd White one-on-one.
Warrington travel to Castleford on Easter Monday.
After the match Wolves boss Tony Smith said it had been his sides “best performance of the season” and that they clearly enjoyed playing in the sunshine.
“We have not been far away in some games this season – but that was the best performance of the season so far,” he said.
Man of the Match Chris Hill rampages through the Widnes defence
Full-back Matty Russell on the attack
PICTURE GALLERY CLICK HERE
Warrington: Russell, R Evans, Bridge, Atkins, J Monaghan, O’Brien, Ratchford, Hill, M Monaghan, Asotasi, Waterhouse, Laithwaite, Harrison. Subs: Higham, Currie, B Evans, G Riley.
Widnes: Hanbury, Flynn, Phelps, Dean, Owens, Brown, Craven, Gerrard, Clarke, Joseph, Tickle, Galea, Cahill. Subs: Clough, White, Isa, Kavanagh.
