Warrington Wolves coast to win over Widnes

WARRINGTON Wolves cruised to a 50-12 victory over Widnes in their first outing of 2026.

Josh Thewlis crossed for a first-half hat-trick as a relatively strong Wolves side ran in five unopposed tries to lead 28-0 at half-time.

Despite wholesale changes at the break, they continued to be comfortable, with youngsters Leon Hayes, Ewan Irwin and Tommy Rhodes impressing.

With Jordan Abdull making his first appearance in a Widnes shirt, the visitors, cheered on by a sizeable following behind the posts, had a few early sights of the Warrington line, with his kicking game asking questions.

But a loose pass by him, intercepted by Thewlis, gave Warrington their first foray forward, which was eventually finished by Thewlis acrobatically in the corner.

Despite falling behind, Widnes continued to push forward without getting any points on the board, and they hit with a sucker punch on the counter, as nice footwork by Cai Taylor-Wray opened them up in the middle and he found Sam Stone in support to send Thewlis over for his second for 10-0 on 15 minutes.

From then on, it was largely one-way traffic as Warrington went back-to-back off the back of a penalty, Danny Walker’s cut-out pass helping Josh Smith put Thewlis in for his hat-trick.

A Walker pass went to ground on 29 minutes but it opened up for Toby King to shrug off a tackler and find Taylor-Wray, who buzzed his way towards the posts, and kept it alive for Irwin to cross by the side of the posts.

Picture @WarringtonRLFC

By now, Widnes were struggling to cope with Walker’s speed around the ruck, and his crash pass for Luke Thomas sent the Wales international over from close range to make it 28-0 at half-time.

Any anticipated relief for Widnes by the half-time change in personnel was dispelled inside three second-half minutes as Matt Fleming dropped Irwin’s high kick, and after multiple players tried and failed to gather the loose ball, Hayes kicked it on and pounced on it himself for a try.

A Hayes kick forced a repeat set and from that pressure, Ben Hartill side-stepped Fleming from dummy half to make it 40-0 by the 50-minute mark.

Widnes would break their duck on 54 minutes, new signing Deacon Connolly doing really well to catch a high Toby Hughes kick as he slipped in goal, and they also got the next try, Mike Butt just about getting the ball down in the corner.

But Warrington would have the final say, scoring two more tries in the last 10 minutes. First, Rhodes snared an interception off Joe Lyons to go 70 metres, and then with the final act of the match, Rhodes’ no-look pass found the angled run of Ewan Smith to go over by the posts and enable Hayes to bring up the half-century on the final whistle.

Warrington: Taylor-Wray, Josh Thewlis (3T), Josh Smith, King, Jake Thewlis, Irwin (1T, 2G), Sneyd (4G), Byrne, Walker, Philbin, Tanginoa, Stone, Crowther. Subs: Holden, Webster, Duffy, Rhodes (1T), Hayes (1T, 1G), Thomas (1T), Hartill (1t), Wood, Ewan Smith (1T), Yates, Bear Williams, Holdsworth, Coop, Cooper, Lund

Widnes: Fleming, Connell, Owens, Edge (1G), Ince, Lyons, Abdull (1G), Murray, Johnstone, Chapelhow, Wilde, Roberts, Gregson. Subs: Butt (1T), Bent, Fozard, Hall, Bibby, Taylor, Hughes, Connolly (1T), Houghton.