Pictures Eddie Whitham
WARRINGTON Wolves fell to a second successive defeat as they were well beaten 28-6 by St Helens on Thursday night.
Daryl Powell’s side never recovered from a slow start that saw them trail 16-0 after just 18 minutes.
Both sides were missing a host of star men, particularly in the forwards, with Paul Vaughan joining Gil Dudson and Joe Philbin on the sidelines through suspension. Saints were without Alex Walmsley and Agnatius Paasi, as well as the banned Morgan Knowles, and they were also missing Tommy Makinson and Mark Percival.
They made light of their absentees though, Konrad Hurrell making the most of a gift from George Williams after just six minutes, intercepting an off-load and going 40 metres to open the scoring.
Jonny Lomax danced through for a second before Will Hopoate got on the end of a Jack Welsby kick to put Saints in complete control.
Warrington did grow in to the game and started to show some of the form that saw them win their opening eight Super League games, and the introduction of Sam Kasiano from the bench livened them up further. He set the platform for their first try, Matty Russell finishing well in the corner for his 100th career try.
At 16-6 down at half time, there was still hope for Warrington but that was all but extinguished when a flowing Saints move saw Jon Bennison released down the left and he sold Matt Dufty an outrageous dummy on his way to the try line.
A Joey Lussick penalty extended the lead to 22-6 before Tee Ritson finished things off with an acrobatic late score.
Coach Powell said: “I think we’ve learned an unbelievable amount of lessons in the last two weeks and if we learn from them we’ll be a better team, but the last two weeks have been disappointing.
“There is a lot of positivity from the way we’ve started the season, but the last two weeks have given us a fair old reality check and a bloody nose.
“I think we’re not good enough at the moment. We have to improve to flip that around, and to give us a chance of being in front of these games when they reach the end.”
St Helens: Welsby; Ritson, Hurrell, Hopoate, Bennison; Lomax, Dodd; McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Roby, Lees, Royle, Batchelor, Bell. Interchanges: Lussick, Baxter, Delaney, Bruines, (Hill).
Warrington: Dufty; Russell, Minikin, Ratchford, Ashton; Williams, Drinkwater; Harrison, Walker, McGuire, Currie, Nicholson, Clark. Interchanges: Thewlis, Mata’utia, Kasiano, Green, (Thomas).
.@mattyrussell3 gets it done for @WarringtonRLFC😤 #SLStHWar pic.twitter.com/yjGX6AX8Nn
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) April 20, 2023
Hurrell with the offload that finds wingman Tee Ritson who confirms the win for @Saints1890
28-6 Final Score#SkyRL pic.twitter.com/8CcLWYjZ61
— Sky Sports Rugby League (@SkySportsRL) April 20, 2023
