WARRINGTON WOLVES 56
YORK CITY KNIGHTS 10
DAVE PARKINSON at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Warrington marched into Round Five of the Carnegie Challenge Cup with a 56-10 victory that was comprehensive but did not paint the full picture of the game.
Wolves Head of Coaching, Tony Smith, spotted plenty of positives in the defeat of their Championship One opponents. He said, “I thought we were great with the ball, very good and and very professional. We didn’t make many errors. Defensively I was a little disappointed in the first half, but we lifted in the second and to have a nil scoreline shows that we improved.”
Warrington made a good start to the game when a short pass from Chris Bridge put Simon Grix over after two minutes. Chris Hicks missed the conversion and York came at their illustrious opponents with a try of quality. Quick movement put the ball out to the right and former Featherstone winger Wayne McHugh sped down the wing before turning the ball back inside for Danny Ratcliffe to romp over for his 5th try of the season. Richard Knight converted but the Knights joy was soon dampened when Kiwi International Vinnie Anderson scored and Hicks tagged on the first of 8 goals.
Ben Harrison crossed for the Wolves third try after seventeen minutes but York responded well and on the back of a couple of penalties, they held onto possession for four successive sets. Mike Mitchell was stopped on the line but with the Wolves back tracking, Paul Hughes plunged through from dummy half. With Ben Westwood returning from his suspension and Gareth Carvell playing his first game in six weeks, the Wolves had two of the most influential forwards on show and it was the former who was next on the scoreboard following the distribution of Lee Briers and a run against the grain in the 26th minute. York adapted a holding pattern with brothers Paul and David March well to the fore alongside Adam Sullivan and Mark Applegarth and this worked for ten minutes before Hicks spilled the ball in the act of scoring. With that, confidence flooded back and the Wolves nabbed the final try of the half when Jon Clarke dummied his way through and had youngster Mike Cooper on his shoulder to go under the posts.
Trailing 28-10 at halftime, York needed the first score of the second half but that went the way of the hosts when Bridge showed quick feet and strength to beat two men from ten metres before he handed off another tackler on the line. York fashioned half a chance when McHugh took a kick near his own line and linked with Tom Haberecht and Ratcliffe but the fullback was ankle tapped. 34-10 was a fair reflection of the game before a couple of mad moments changed the landscape.
First Knights replacement Chris Clough alleged biting in a tackle which saw the referee put the incident on report without specifying a potential culprit, then when Warrington were awarded a penalty prop Danny Ekis seemed to raise his forearm in tackling Louis Anderson. Both teams piled into the disagreement and referee James Child sent Ekis from the field and again put the incident on report.
As the Knights tired, Warrington clinically ran in tries from Briers and Vinnie Anderson (his second), before two stoppage time raids brought further scores from Louis Anderson and Paul Johnson to take the Wolves past fifty points.
The City Knights Director of Rugby, James Ratcliffe was upbeat after the game. “We stuck at it.” He said. “It was really hard in the last fifteen minutes when we were down to twelve men. It’s hard enough playing a Super League side with thirteen men! I think we’ve gained a lot from it from our point of view. I do see it as a springboard and I think it was a good performance against full-time opposition and World Class stars.”
GAMEBREAKER: When Chris Bridge opened second half scoring after 49 minutes, it was always going to be too big a job for the plucky Knights to complete.
GAMESTAR: Gareth Carvell was immense in the Warrington engine room. A consummate prop forward performance, full of running, controlled aggression and a couple of offloads for good measure.
WARRINGTON
23 Chris Hicks
2 Paul Johnson
13 Vinnie Anderson
20 Simon Grix
4 Matt King
25 Chris Bridge
6 Lee Briers
16 Gareth Carvell
14 Mick Higham
15 Paul Wood
22 Lee Mitchell
12 Ben Westwood
24 Ben Harrison
Subs (All used)
10 Paul Rauhihi
18 Mike Cooper
11 Louis Anderson
9 Jon Clarke
Tries: Grix (2), Ratcliffe (6), Vinnie Anderson (10, 73), Harrison (17), Westwood (26), Cooper (39), Bridge (49), Briers (70), Louis Anderson (79), Paul Johnson (80).
Goals: Hicks 8/10
Field Goal:
On Report: (63) unspecified player – alleged biting on Chris Clough
(65) unspecified players – Brawl
Sin bin: (TIME) – offence
Dismissals:
CITY KNIGHTS
32 Danny Ratcliffe
3 John Oakes
28 Mike Mitchell
12 Tom Haberecht
34 Wayne McHugh
27 Danny Grimshaw
7 Paul March
8 Danny Ekis
9 Paul Hughes
10 Adam Sullivan
11 Rob Kelly
13 Richard Knight
21 David March
Subs (All used)
14 Tom Hodgson
29 Mark Applegarth
15 Chris Clough
17 Scott Woodcock
Tries: Ratcliffe (6), Hughes (23)
Goals: Knight 1/2
Field goal:
On Report: (65) unspecified players - Brawl
Sin bin:
Dismissal: (65) Ekis – use of elbow in tackle.
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Warrington: Gareth Carvell
York: Adam Sullivan
Penalty count: 9-11
Half-time: 28-10
Referee: Mr J Child
Attendance: 4,709.
SCORING SEQUENCE:
4-0, 4-6, 10-6, 16-6, 16-10, 22-10, 28-10, 34-10, 40-10, 46-10, 52-10, 56-10.
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