Wolves crushed by Warriors

A second half collapse saw Warrington Wolves crushed 38-14 by arch rivals Wigan at the JJB Stadium.
Disappointed Coach Paul Cullen admitted his side who led 8-14 at the interval “caved in” during the second half.
Warrington looked the stronger side during the first half but as they ran out of steam in the second period the home side began to stamp their authority on the match, running in five tries in 16 minutes to finish them off .
Centre George Carmont opened the scoring for the hosts with a try in the fourth minute, Pat Richards converting to give them a 6-0 lead. The Warrington reply came on the 14 minutes, Matt King coming in on the angle from the wing to collect the slip pass and crash over.
Seven minutes later and, with Warrington back on the attack, Vinnie Anderson chased down a delightful chip through the Wigan defence from Michael Monaghan to score the visitors’ second.
But the Wolves were unable to stretch their lead after Chris Hicks, who minutes earlier had seen what looked like a clean score disallowed by the video referee, drifted his kick wide of the posts.
Eight minutes before half time though 21-year-old Welsh international Andy Bracek gave Warrington a 14-6 advantage after latching onto a beautiful inside pass from Martin Gleeson.
But when Joel Tomkins was brought down stretching for the Warrington line Hicks again fell foul of the video referee who controversially adjudged him to have robbed the ball. Richards added the two points to take them into the break trailing by six, with the scores at 8-14. Warrington started the second half a man down with Vinnie Anderson in the sin bin after he was penalised shortly before half time.
But despite putting plenty of pressure on the visitors, Wigan were unable to make them pay and it was not until 12 minutes into the second half that they scored, courtesy of Trent Barrett, who ran in for his first Super League try of the year after selling a neat dummy to send two defenders the wrong way. Richards was on target again to level the scores at 14-14 and just a minute later the home side made it two in two minutes after Gareth Hock split the Warrington defence wide open with an exquisite sidestep and Liam Colbon ran in for the score. Again Richards maintained his 100 percent record to give Wigan a six point lead.
With Warrington now looking weary the Warriors began to turn the screws and within five minutes Barrett capitalised on a sloppy Warrington defence barging his way over from close range for his second score after the Wolves had been penalised close to their line. Richards converted to give Wigan a 26-14 lead.
Eight minutes later and a spent looking Warrington side were unable to stop Iafeta Paleaaesina blasting his way through three defenders on a tremendous charge down the field. The ball found Hock who again split the Warrington defence with another neat sidestep, this time running in for the score himself. Richards’ kick gave the Warriors an 18 point lead. Three minutes later Tomkins showed pace and agility on his run in from 30 metres. Richards made it seven from seven to seal a dominant second half performance and give the hosts a convincing win.
Warrington coach Paul Cullen said that his side “caved in” after controlling the first half .
“The last 30 minutes was a poor effort and we’re bitterly disappointed with our discipline and our defence on the back of it,” he said.
“To go in with a lead at half-time with a man down was a decent effort and I thought we had weathered the storm of being a man short.
“But we are bitterly disappointed with the way we caved in in the last 30 minutes.
“It’s been a costly defeat but injuries and decisions of the officials have not caused our indiscipline and our weakness in defence.
“We failed to handle Gareth Hock and Iafeta Paleaaeasina and you can’t give power athletes that much ball and field position. That proved our downfall.”