WARRINGTON Wolves paid the penalty for some poor discipline as they suffered a surprise 36-16 defeat at Hull KR.
Despite the defeat Warrington clung on to second place in Super League on points difference from St Helens, although Wigan opened up a four point gap at the top after winning 18-4 at Salford.
With the influential Lee Briers once again missing Warrington started brightly with a Richie Mathers try (pictured above) but the Robins hit back with a trio from Kris Welham, Ben Cockayne and Shaun Briscoe.
Matt King and Chris Riley scored for Wolves either side of the interval before Rovers cut loose in the final quarter.
Peter Fox scored twice and Matt Cooke added a third, Michael Dobson’s boot providing another eight points.
But it had been Warrington who dominated the opening quarter of an hour as Mathers crossed the line and Westwood, handed the goal-kicking duties, converted.
But it wasn’t long before the home side hit back in the 15th minute as Ben Galea found Welham who raced over to score.
Dobson added the extras but could not convert Rovers’ next score on 26 minutes from Cockayne.
Then Dobson provided the ball for Briscoe’s try as he found Chas I’Anson who offloaded to the full-back close to the line, Dobson adding the extras.
Matt King hit back for Warrington after I’Anson had the ball stolen from him by David Solomona, who passed to King, and he powered through a three-man tackle to score, with Westwood converting.
Warrington scored first after the break from a superb 40-20 kick.
The ball was then worked wide and Atkins handed off Fox and slipped the pass to Riley.
But, minutes later, Dobson’s kick set up Fox, who crossed the whitewash with Dobson adding the the two.
Rovers ran riot in the final 20 minutes as Cook crossed the line to put the home side 10 points clear. Then a grubber kick through and Cook’s brilliant pick-up gave him the room to stretch over before Dobson converted.
Winger Fox rounded things off when he profited from a poor Solomona offload to score under the posts.
Warrington coach Tony Smith said: “We were second best by a long way. The game was in the balance and was looking for a team to take control. It wasn’t us today.
“Hull KR looked sharp and our execution was off. We were sloppy in some of our passing and we let ourselves down a bit with some of our decision making and our discipline. We gifted them some penalties and we got ou just deserts.”
For more pictures from the game click on the image above.
Hull KR: Briscoe, Fox, Welham, Webster, Cockayne, I’Anson, Dobson, Vella, Murrell, Clinton, Newton, Netherton, Galea, Lovegrove.
Replacements: Hodgson for Webster (27), Lovegrove for Vella (21), Watts for Clinton (23),
Warrington Wolves: Mathers, Hicks, King, Atkins, Riley, Grix, Myler, Morley, Higham, Carvell, L. Anderson, Westwood, Harrison, Wood.
Replacements: Bridge for Higham (28), Wood for Carvell (7), Solomona for Harrison (32), Mitchell for Wood (52).
Sin Bin: Bridge (75).
Referee: Ian Smith
Attendance: 8,452
