Warrington too hot for Wigan on cold night at Halliwell-Jones Stadium
ByPA Sport
Published 28/04/2016 at 21:09 GMT
Warrington found a spring their step despite wintry conditions at the Halliwell-Jones Stadium, turning on the style against injury-hit Wigan to pull two points clear of them at the top of the First Utility Super League.
Ben Westwood scored a try with his first touch of the ball
Image credit: PA Sport
Warrington found a spring their step despite wintry conditions at the Halliwell-Jones Stadium, turning on the style against injury-hit Wigan to pull two points clear of them at the top of the First Utility Super League.
Evergreen forward Ben Westwood and centre Ryan Atkins scored two tries apiece in a 40-10 romp as they completed the double over Shaun Wane's men following their equally impressive 28-16 win at the DW Stadium a month ago.
Wane was able to welcome back stand-off George Williams after a two-month absence with a back injury but the Warriors were still lacking five England internationals and that was a telling factor.
Warrington recalled winger Tom Lineham after a two-game absence but he was forced off after only 11 minutes after being on the end of a heavy tackle from Tony Clubb and that meant a major reshuffle to their back division.
The changes failed to disrupt the home side, however, with Matty Russell and Rhys Evans switching to the wings, Kevin Penny slotting in at full-back and French international Benjamin Jullien impressing as a makeshift centre and scoring his first Super League try.
Defences dominated for the opening quarter and when Warrington thought they had opened the scoring when Stefan Ratchford touched down a loose ball the try was disallowed for offside.
The deadlock was broken on 17 minutes by Wigan's former England winger Josh Charnley who took advantage of the wet conditions to slide over the line after taking full-back Dan Sarginson's cut-out pass.
The home side responded through hooker Daryl Clark, who dummied his way over for a try after Russell had switched the point of attack, and the impressive Kurt Gidley kicked the first of his five goals to give them the lead.
Evergreen forward Ben Westwood was introduced into the game on 28 minutes and, with his first touch of the ball, forced his way to the line, taking three defenders over with him to score an opportunist try.
That was the signal for Wane to introduce Williams but he had little chance to show his skill as the Warriors were forced to defend for most of the second quarter, largely due to a string of penalties, most of them conceded by Taulima Tautai.
The pressure paid off two minutes before half-time when a break from Russell set up the position for Penny to add a third try, leaping high into the air to collect Gidley's towering kick.
That made it 18-4 and could have been more with Gidley and Westwood both reaching the line without being able to ground the ball.
It was a similar story in the second half, with Joe Westerman held up over the line before Atkins took Ratchford's offload to go in for a fourth after Warrington kept the ball alive on the last tackle.
Any hope Wigan had of getting back into the game disappeared on 57 minutes when Ratchford was once more the provider for Atkins' second try after the Wolves had manufactured an overlap.
Ratchford, proving to be an excellent understudy for the injured Chris Sandow, was also the provider for Jullien's 64th-minute try before Wigan gained some consolation with a try from second rower John Bateman, easily their most impressive player in an otherwise disappointing display.
Westwood put the seal on Warrington's impressive show two minutes from the end when he barged his way over for another solo effort and Ratchford added the goal.
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