It was a tasty looking game to open round eleven of Super League 2024 as two of the six sides sharing the top of the table met at the Halliwell Jones Stadium as the second placed Warrington Wolves took on a buoyant Hull Kingston Rovers side who began the night in fourth spot.
One of these sides would be two points clear at the end of eighty minutes while depending on results elsewhere in the round, the other could conceivably drop outside the top six and the all-important play-off places.
Warrington were the slight favourites with the bookies, handicapped four points on the coupon, but there would be no underestimating a Hull KR side which has shocked pundits and delighted their home support with a fantastic start to the season and who ran them very close when the two sides met in March.
Delightful play from Warrington led to the opening points when Toby King started and ended a flowing passing move over fifty metres on six minutes as they went over ten in from the left touchline. Josh Thewlis added the conversion for the perfect start for Burgess’s men.
Five minutes later Matty Ashton was awarded a penalty try after a high tackle from Joe Burgess appeared to have knocked the Wolves man into touch when he would have scored without the illegal tackle. Thewis was on target again for a 12-0 lead, the Robins not getting a look in.
The Hull KR defence went missing on twenty-six when King accelerated through a gap, past weak attempted tackles, and scored his second of the game from ten metres out. Thewlis hit the mark again for 18-0, all too easy for the Wolves.
Just after the thirty-minute mark a Tanginoa offload found Nial Evalds who took out three Wolves defenders before passing to the supporting Jack Broadbent to scamper over. Mikey Lewis was unable to add the conversion, the arrears down to fourteen points at the interval.
A massive step off his left foot, close to the Wolves try line, saw Mikey Lewis add a second KR try on fifty minutes as he grounded off a defender’s foot and onto the line. He was again off target with the boot, the Robins still ten adrift but they had scored back-to-back unanswered tries.
KR threw everything that they had at the Wolves defence, but the home side were up to it, defending their line with vigour running the clock down and frustrating their opponents.
A short drop out from Hull KR didn’t go the ten and Warrington kicked the penalty after the final hooter for a 20-8 win after a grind of a second half.
The Robins were much improved in the second half, but they were chasing the game. The Wolves simply had to hold on to their hard work in the opening forty and they did that to go to the top half of the table with what must go down as an uncomfortable win, but nonetheless a win.
Warrington Wolves: Dufty, Thewlis (3/3 G), King (2T), Tai, Ashton (T), Williams, Drinkwater, Harrison, Walker, Vaughan, Nicholson, Fitzgibbon, Currie. Subs: Philbin, Musgrove, Crowther, Powell. 18th Man: Wood.
Hull KR: Evalds, Burgess, Hiku, Broadbent (T), Hall, May, Lewis (T, 0/2 G), Sue, Litten, Whitbread, Tanginoa, Batchelor, Hadley. Subs: Parcell, King, Storton, Brown. 18th Man: Tennison.
Half-Time: 18-4.
Full-Time: 20-8.
Score Progression: 4-0, 6-0, 10-0, 12-0, 16-0, 18-0, 18-4 : HT: 18-8, 20-8 :FT.
Lead Exchanges: Warrington.
Referee: James Vella.
