WARRINGTON Wolves kicked off 2015 with a 16-0 pre-season friendly victory over local rivals Widnes as big-name signing Ashton Sims (pictured top) made his debut.
Ben Currie scored a brace of tries and youngster Toby King added a third after the break in front of a 3,541 strong crowd at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
The Vikings found themselves in trouble with referee James Child, having three players sinbinned, with all three tries scored when the visitors were down to 12 men.
The first try came from a blistering break started by Matty Russell. The full-back burst away through the middle, before Kevin Penny was held down by Cameron Phelps, who saw the first yellow card.
A tackle later, the ball was pushed left for Currie (pictured right) to cross for the opening try.
Warrington fielded new big-name signing Ashton Sims in the front-row, but it was his opposite number, Manase Manuokafoa, in trouble next – the Widnes prop seeing yellow for a late tackle on Gareth O’Brien.
After Rhys Evans set the platform, Currie twisted for his second try on 31 minutes, with O’Brien adding his second conversion for a 12-0 lead at the break.
The game continued in the same manner in the second half, with neither side really creating much in attack.
A repeat set had Widnes knocking on the door, until O’Brien intercepted a kick and raced 90 metres only to be denied by a superb chase by Joe Mellor. Mellor held down for too long in the tackle, and became the third Vikings player to be sent for 10 minutes on the sidelines.
The Wolves once again took advantage of the extra space, King crossing on the left.
And Tony Smith was left a happy man as Warrington kept Widnes scoreless to finish with a 16-0 victory.
Warrington: Russell, Ormsby, R Evans, Wheeler, Penny, O’Brien, Myler, Sims, Higham, England, Laithwaite, Currie, G King. Subs: Westwood, Ratchford, Harrison, T King, Patton, Asotasi, Philbin, Ackers, Walker, Monaghan
Widnes: Owens, Ah Van, Phelps, Marsh, Flynn, Brown, Mellor, Joseph, Heremaia, Kavanagh, Dean, Clarkson, Cahill. Subs: Walker, Hulme, Craven, Gore, Gerrard, Manuokafoa, White, Leuluai, Chapelhow, Whitley
