The clear league leaders, the Catalans Dragons, arrived at the Halliwell-Jones Stadium to take on a Warrington Wolves side seemingly in freefall after they had lost their previous five outings and split with the coach Daryl Powell after a poor run of results.
Depending on the results below them, a win which was much fancied by the bookies could see the Dragons six points clear at the top of the table and a loss for the home side would put them perilously close to dropping out of the all-important top six as the season heads towards its climax.
But Dragons coach Steve McNamara knew better than to take the challenge of interim coach Gary Chambers side lightly, as his team tried to move two points closer to the minor premiership for the second time in three years.
The first action of note was a tip tackle by Ben Garcia on Matty Nicholson, the Dragons skipper perhaps lucky to stay on the field. On the resulting six Danny Walker went close but the Dragons defence held firm.
On ten minutes Matt Dufty dropped a high ball on his own line, forcing a drop out. On the last tackle Stefan Ratchford caught a stray boot and left with blood streaming from a head wound. As Warrington reorganised a high kick from Mitchell Pearce was caught on the bounce by Adam Keighran who span out of a tackle and grounded. Keighran converted his own for a 6-0 lead.
On seventeen, fast hands from the Dragons saw Tom Davies take the final pass on the overlap to dive in at the right-hand corner. Keighran pushed his touchline conversion wide of the far upright but Warrington were already starting to crumble.
The Dragons turned defence into attack on twenty-five but after a ball steal from Dufty ten from the Warrington line, Keighran kicked the goal for 12-0.
A beautiful passing move from the visitors, the ball going through half a dozen pairs of hands, saw Pearce cross for his second of the night and when Keighran added the conversion it was 18-0, the Wolves disappearing in the rear-view mirror.
Just before the interval the Wolves finally crossed the whitewash with Ben Currie stepping out of a tackle to score from ten metres out. A bandaged Ratchford added the conversion, the Wolves with a lifeline and trailing by twelve at the interval.
Ratchford was ruled out of the second half with delayed concussion after his first half head clash and would take no part in the second half.
It was a stalemate for the opening fourteen minutes of the second half before Matt Whitley pounced upon a Tyrone May grubber to dot down in the Warrington try zone. Keighran added the conversion for 24-6, the Warrington fightback was over.
Matt Ikuvalu grounded a May grubber, aimed at the posts, to score under the uprights with no Wolves player anywhere near him. Once again Keighran added the conversion for 30-6, Warrington condemned to another heavy defeat as they continue their slid towards the bottom half of the table.
A late Josh Thewlis consolation on seventy-seven, lesping in at the corner for the secind Wolves try of the night. Thewlis was wide with his conversion attempt, the final score seeing the home side lose by 10-30.
It was a big win for the Dragons as they remain four points clear at the top of the table. The Wolves new coach bounce never materialised as hey made too many mistakes and missed too many tackles against the minor premiers elect. There is no doubt that the loss of Ratchford was important but the game was already as good as lost when he ended his game with an injury. The Dragons are looking the real deal with two great performances in the last two weeks and it would be a brave man who betted against them making it to Old Trafford again.
Warrington Wolves: Dufty, Thewlis (T), Mata’utia, Ratchford (G), Wrench, Williams, Drinkwater, Dudson, Walker, Vaughan, Currie (T), Nicholson, Crowther. Subs: Clark, Kasiano, Philbin, Mikaele. 18th Man: Bullock.
Catalans Dragons: Tomkins, Johnstone, Ikuvalu (T), Keighran (T, 4G), Davies (2T), Pearce, May, Bousquet, Da Costa, Navarrete, Whitley (T), Seguier, Garcia. Subs: Goudemand, Chan, Romano, Scimone. 18th Man: Zenon.
Half-Time: 6-18.
Full-Time: 10-30.
Score Progression: 0-4, 0-6, 0-10, 0-12, 0-16, 0-18, 4-18, 6-18 : HT: 6-22, 6-24, 6-28, 6-30, 10-30 : FT.
Lead Exchanges: Catalans.
Referee: Liam Moore.
