Warrington Wolves 12

St. Helens 35

By MIKE PARSONS

THE Wolves looked a shadow of the side which had pushed Leeds Rhinos to their limit just nine days earlier.

Sunday's battle-royal was obviously a step too far for Warrington, with it being their third game in nine days, and they were steamrolled by Saints' marauding pack at Wilderspool.

It did not help Warrington creatively that half back Lee Briers took a bang to the head midway through the first half. It took the spark out of Warrington's attack and scrum half Scott Wilson was unable to add the zip that was needed.

From then, only late in the game when Saints held a 35-0 lead did Warrington put any kind of sustained pressure on the Saints defence and the reward of two tries was too little, too late.

Maybe if Warrington had had a bit more luck it would have been a different story.

A disallowed try in the first half was followed by a controversial 'play-on' in the second half when hooker Danny Farrar looked certain to score but had the ball stolen from him in a three-man tackle close to the line.

It certainly turned the game just seconds later when a 40 metre solo special from Great Britain hooker Keiron Cunningham stretched Saints' lead to 18-0 and killed the game off.

There were other that went against Warrington. They lost their form try scorer Alan Hunte through injury after only 28 minutes, robbing the Wolves of a flair player who could have produced something out of nothing.

And how on earth did Saints' aggressive prop Vila Matautia stay on the field? The Western Samoan led with his elbow on a run at Danny Nutley in the first half, tangled with the Australian again after the break, put in numerous high shots and was finally put on report by referee John Connolly after nearly decapitating Nutley.

Had Gary Chambers or Dean Busby been fit to have played the Wolves may have had more armour to contend with Matautia but the bully boy plus Great Britain back rower Chris Joynt got on top to boss the battle down the middle.

For Warrington Nutley and Mike Wainwright kept plugging away while Jon Roper thrilled the 7,000-plus crowd with some exciting and explosive bursts but his good work came to nothing.

The Wolves could only blame themselves for some poor tackling. Bump offs and off-loads just led to draining Warrington's energy reserves and the result was three Saints tries in 11 minutes after they had taken a 19-0 lead.

It turned out to be Warrington's worst home defeat of the season and could prove to be the nail in the coffin as far as a top five finish is concerned.

Saints went ahead in the third minute with a Sean Long penalty goal.

Wainwright had a try ruled out for dropping the ball in his stretch for the line in a three-man tackle.

Saints' centre Kevin Iro left the field hobbling but his replacement, Steve Hall, then crossed with his first touch after Warrington old boy Paul Scunthorpe bumped off Wolves skipper Simon Gillies and fed Hall to go over from 30m. Long was unable to goal from the touchline.

Sculthorpe held down Roper at a play-the-ball but Briers' shot at goal, well within his range, sailed wide.

Alan Hunte conceded a penalty with his dissent at the referee. Saints gained 'six more' after a Keiron Cunningham kick was adjudged to have been knocked on by Nutley. From the scrum, Chris Smith ran sideways and picked out deep runner Joynt to cross between Kohe-Love and Hunte. Long goaled and it was 12-0.

Two minutes into the second half Farrar had the ball ripped out of his hands by Apollo Perelini, in a three-man tackle, as he headed for four points.

Saints went down the other end of the field and Cunningham spotted a huge gap in the ruck area. He darted 40m from the play-the-ball and sent Penny the wrong way to cross. Long's goal made it 18-0.

A Long drop goal in the 47th minute took Saints' advantage on to 19-0.

Saints scrum half Paul Wellens attacked the line and stepped inside a poor Briers tackle attempt for a 23-0 advantage.

Joynt's forward-looking pass put winger Anthony Sullivan over. Long's goal took the score on to 29-0 and he supported a Sculthorpe break to cross for another converted try.

Warrington got on the score sheet when substitute Chris Causey barged over for his first Super League try. Roper goaled.

Then Wainwright touched down after getting the better of Sculthorpe and Roper converted.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.