WARRINGTON Wolves kicked off the new World Club Series with an 18-12 defeat to NRL side St George Illawarra Dragons in a fierecely contested game at the Halliwell Jones.
In an entertaining game in front of a noisy Halliwell Jones Stadium crowd, the Wolves had twice fought back to tie the scores at 12-all, but Josh Dugan’s try with 18 minutes to go proved the game breaker.
The visitors were perhaps fortunate to keep a full complement of players on the pitch on two occasions, with Kevin Penny and Gareth O’Brien falling victim to dangerous high tackles in either half which both earned merely a penalty off referee Ben Thaler.
Salt was rubbed in to Wolves wounds when one of the perpetrators, Benji Marshall, went on to assist the match winning try just moments after he floored O’Brien.
Warrington had got off to the worst possible start, big name signing Ashton Sims spilling the ball in one of the first carries of the match, and St George took full advantage. Wales international Tyson Frizell ran on to a Marshall pass and dived over unopposed, with England stand-off Gareth Widdop tagging on the extras.
St George winger Eto Nabuli, a Fiji international team-mate of Sims, then stole the show for two contrasting reasons. First, he put in a fine try saving tackle on Joel Monaghan having initially been caught out of position, bringing down the Warrington captain who had claimed Richie Myler’s clever kick to the corner.
Not long after, Warrington got on the board, Myler taking the ball to the line and finding O’Brien (pictured right), who dummied through the line and also fooled full-back Dugan to score for a try he converted himself.
The Dragons were back in front within five minutes, Joel Thompson touching down from Widdop’s grubber kick despite the presence of Monaghan.
Then came the biggest talking point of the first half, as Nabuli took out Penny with a clothes line tackle, though referee Thaler declined to send the Fijian to the sin-bin despite the cries from the home support.
That controversy raised the atmosphere inside the ground, and spurred Warrington on to level the scores.
A penalty had the Wolves up the field, and Ryan Atkins took a Gary Wheeler pass and spun out of a tackle to touch down.
O’Brien missed the conversion, so Warrington went in 12-10 down at the break.
The half-back restored parity though ahead of the hour, knocking over a penalty after being took down by Marshall’s high tackle.
But the decisive moment came minutes later, when a clever reverse kick by Marshall caught out the Warrington defence, and Dugan bounced out of the clutches of Daryl Clark to touch down.
The World Club Series continues with Wigan against Brisbane on Saturday before the Super League champions St Helens take on NRL counterparts South Sydney at Langtree Park on Sunday.
Warrington Wolves: Wheeler; Evans, Monaghan, Atkins, Penny; O’Brien, Myler; Hill, Clark, Sims, Currie, Laithwaite, Westwood. Subs: Bridge, Harrison, Higham, England.
St George Illawarra: Dugan; Nabuli, Nielsen, Farrell, Nightingale; Widdop, Marshall; O’Brien, Rein, Ah Mau, Frizell, Thompson, Creagh. Subs: Merrin, De Belin, Marketo, Rose.
FOR A GALLERY OF PICTURES CLICK HERE
