LUKE Littler was sent home smiling by Warrington Wolves as they marked the night they re-christened their stadium after him with a 18-12 win over Catalans.
A crowd of 11,157 turned up at the Luke Littler Stadium to watch the darts world champion parade his trophy before the game and at half time of what would ultimately be Warrington’s second successive win at the start of the Super League season.
The action on the field perhaps didn’t live up to the hype around the build-up of the match, in Warrington’s latest efforts to attract exposure and coverage beyond the usual.
A slow starting first half saw just two points in the first half an hour, Arthur Mourgue taking a penalty after Cesar Rouge had been taken out late by Ben Currie.
A fine tackle by Matt Dufty denied former St Helens winger Tommy Makinson on 15 minutes, before a forward pass prevented Matty Ashton romping away down the left.
Warrington had to wait until the 30th minute to get on the scoresheet, Williams’ kick knocked by Ashton and Toby King picked up the scraps to score.
Catalans were causing some problems with their offload game in the middle, though largely looked incapable of converting it into anything of note, that was until the very last minute of the first half when Nick Cotric broke down the left. From the next play, they shifted it all the way to the other side and Matthieu Laguerre dummied his way over despite the attention of Ashton and Dufty to level things up at six-apiece at half time.
The Dragons almost followed that up with a try at the start of the second half, Josh Thewlis getting up to deny Makinson from a Luke Keary kick.
Warrington somehow didn’t score on 48 minutes when they looked to have created an overlap on the right, Cotric managing to wrap up Arron Lindop on the last with the line begging.
A classy break from Williams, backed up by hometown hooker Danny Walker, put Warrington back in front on 50 minutes and they wouldn’t squander it again.
There was a flare up on 61 minutes as Warrington put themselves under pressure, Jordy Crowther hitting Rouge in the face after the Frenchman had knocked on, meaning a penalty to Catalans rather than a Warrington ball, and that gave the Dragons some sustained field position. They bombed their chance though when Arthur Romano threw his pass in to touch.
With 12 to go, it looked like Dufty had made the points safe, spinning away from two tackles to touch down, but Catalans had other ideas.
A break by the excellent Cotric was supported by Keary, and from the next tackle, Laguerre found his way to the line for his second try with the Warrington defence broken.
That gave the visitors six minutes or so to find an equalising try, but they fell short, and Warrington head on their historic trip to Las Vegas to face Wigan off the back of a perfect start to the campaign.
Warrington: Dufty (t), Thewlis (3g), Lindop, King (t), Ashton, Williams, Leyland, Vaughan, Walker (t), Yates, Russell, Fitzgibbon, Currie. Subs: Harrison, Philbin, Crowther, Powell (Holroyd)
Catalans: Mourgue (2g), Makinson, Romano, Laguerre (2t), Cotric, Keary, Rouge, Pangai, Garcia, Bousquet, Sironen, Whitehead, Partington. Subs: Da Costa, Dezaria, Seguier, Sims (Yaha)
GETTT INNNNNN 😀 pic.twitter.com/NhLrP5sQ4c
— Warrington Wolves (@WarringtonRLFC) February 21, 2025
Welcome @LukeTheNuke180 🤩 pic.twitter.com/gSVdfSyvlg
— Warrington Wolves (@WarringtonRLFC) February 21, 2025
An entrance fitting of a World Champion 🎯@LukeTheNuke180 leads out the sides at his own stadium @WarringtonRLFC 👏#SuperLeague pic.twitter.com/VPZLmbyUgg
— Betfred Super League (@SuperLeague) February 21, 2025
