WARRINGTON Wolves rounded off the Super League Magic Weekend with a 41-24 victory over St Helens.
Tony Smith’s men turned an 18-6 half-time lead in to a relatively comfortable victory over their local rivals, and with it secured a sixth win in eight appearances at the Magic Weekend.
It also denied St Helens the chance to go top of the Super League table, following Leeds’ defeat to Wigan on Saturday, which had seen four closely fought games at the Etihad Stadium, a stark contrast to three blow outs on Sunday.
The Wolves got off to a quick start, forcing a drop out in the first minute, and they took the lead when Gene Ormsby dived over in the corner.
From the kick-off, Jonny Lomax kicked out on the full, setting up field position for the Wolves to add a quick second through Rhys Evans.
Chris Hill added a third try and Ormsby’s second had the Wolves 18-0 up, with only wayward goalkicking denying them an unassailable lead inside the first half an hour.
Saints did manage to get themselves back in the contest before half-time, when Alex Walmsley took Luke Walsh’s short pass to cross while the Wolves were down to 12-men, having seen Ormsby sin-binned for holding down.
Having been blown away for most of the first half, that gave Saints some hope, and they squandered a superb chance almost immediately after the restart, Lance Hohaia failing to find a decisive final pass.
Warrington then put in a blistering spell that ultimately decided the game. Ryan Atkins, Joel Monaghan and Matty Russell all ran in tries to put the Wolves 30 points to the good.
While Saints rallied, with scores from Jordan Turner, Hohaia and Matt Dawson, Warrington never looked like squandered their advantage, although were perhaps slightly relieved by a late Stefan Ratchford drop goal and Monaghan’s second try.
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Warrington: Russell, R. Evans, J. Monaghan, Atkins, Ormsby, C. Bridge, Ratchford, Hill, M. Monaghan, England, Waterhouse, Westwood, Harrison. Subs: Higham, Asotasi, Laithwaite, B. Evans.
St Helens: Lomax, Makinson, Turner, Jones, Dawson, Hohaia, Walsh, Walmsley, Roby, Walker, Wilkin, Greenwood, McCarthy-Scarsbrook. Subs: Thompson, Masoe, Soliola, Wellens.
