Warriors win at Warrington

• Match Report as Wigan Warriors win away at Warrington Wolves.
• Iain Thornley and Liam Marshall both crossed for doubles with Bevan French, Liam Farrell and Ethan Havard also on the scoresheet.
• FT | Warrington Wolves 22-40 Wigan Warriors.

Wigan put in a solid display as they saw out a well earned win over Warrington Wolves at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Friday night.

Wigan were not short of attacking effort as they burst out of the blocks to score through Iain Thornley Warrington hit back immediately through Riley Dean but a second effort from Thornley and a good finish from Bevan French got Wigan back into the lead. Warrington pegged one back but a sensational try saw Liam Farrell over before half time for a 24-10 lead.

Wigan scored three unanswered tries as Liam Marshall added a quick fire double before Ethan Havard crashed over. Warrington hit back with two effort late on but it wasn’t enough to deny Wigan the win.

Report

The Warriors were quick out of the blocks as they worked their way into the Warrington half with the help of a penalty. Getting themselves 20m away the Warriors shifted the ball from left to right to send Iain Thornley flying onto a ball to score in the corner, the touchline conversion from Harry Smith was good and Wigan had an early 6-0 lead.

Warrington hit back immediately, again a penalty giving them good field position as Riley Dean crashed onto a ball to go in under the sticks, converting his own effort to make it 6-6 in the opening 10 minutes.

Wigan swung the scores back in their favour as Iain Thornley crashed over in identical fashion to his first, running it right Field sent Thornley between two defenders to get the ball down and another testing conversion from the touchline for Smith was slotted over to make it 12-6.

Despite Warrington applying a sustained period of pressure against the Wigan defence, the Warriors held firm and back in possession the Cherry & Whites went in again in the 24th minute as Jai Field made a half break before getting a pass away to Bevan French to finish off the move, a third successive conversion from Harry Smith made it 18-6.

Wigan allowed Warrington straight back up the field though and they took the advantage as Matty Ashton went down the wing to go in at the corner. The conversion attempt was short and the score was 18-10 with 10 minutes to go until half time.

The Warriors extended their lead right before the hooter as Mago put in the yards and was allowed space to get a simple offload to Liam Farrell, who rounded the defence to go in close to the uprights. A fourth conversion from Harry Smith saw Wigan in with the 24-10 lead.

With Jai Field replaced at half time, Wigan were quick off the mark once more as a grubber kick towards the Warrington goal line was spilled into the hands of Liam Marshall to open his account on the evening. Marshall as in again within three minutes, once again finding joy down the left wing to go over in front of the Wigan fans. Smith added a fifth conversion of the evening to make the scores 34-10.

Ethan Havard was the next player to add his name to the score list, a propped up ball from Harry Smith allowing him to crash over from short range next to the sticks, converted for 40-10. Warrington did snatch one back, Danny Walker off the interchange bench to go in under the uprights, converted by Mata’utia but Wigan still had the 40-16 advantage.

Warrington rounded off the scoring as a dart from Peter Mata’utia saw him touch the ball down, Thewlis added the extras to reduce the score to 40-22 but it was Wigan who took home the two points.

Gallery:

Warrington Wolves: Josh Thewlis, Josh Charnley, Peter Mata’utia, Toby King, Matty Ashton, Riley Dean, George Williams, Robbie Mulhern, Daryl Clark, Mike Cooper, Ben Currie, Oliver Holmes, Billy Magoulias.

Interchange: Joe Philbin, Jason Clark, Joe Bullock, Danny Walker.

Tries: Dean (6′), Ashton (27′), Walker (69′), Mata’utia (74′)

Goals: Dean 1/2, Mata’utia 1/1, Thewlis 1/1

Sin Bin: Clark (54′)

Wigan Warriors: Jai Field, Bevan French, Iain Thornley, Jake Bibby, Liam Marshall, Cade Cust, Harry Smith, Brad Singleton, Brad O’Neill, Kaide Ellis, Liam Farrell, John Bateman, Morgan Smithies.

Interchange: Patrick Mago, Ethan Havard, Liam Byrne, Sam Halsall.

Tries: Thornley (3′, 13′), French (24′), Farrell (38′), Marshall (45′, 48′), Havard (60′)

Goals: Smith 6/7

Referee: Robert Hicks

Attendance: 10,104