Warrington Wolves under 19s 16 St Helens under 19s 28

WARRINGTON Wolves’ 14-game winning run came to an end on Sunday when they were defeated by St Helens in the Under 19s Academy at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Saints, Wolves’ closest challengers in the league table, were more clinical at crucial times and there can be no complaints about the final outcome.

St Helens opened the scoring in the fourth minute when they kept the ball alive well and swept it from one side of the field to the other before stand off Dave Hewitt gave a fine inside ball to scrum half Danny Richardson, who scored at the left of the posts.

Hooker Lewis Charnock converted but Wolves hit back nine minutes later when they forced a drop out.

After a fine drive from prop forward Alex Whalley the ball was whipped along the line to centre Harvey Livett, who put winger Jake Eccleston over in the right corner.

Just before the halfway point of the first period a clever reverse kick on the last tackle by Wolves stand off Declan Patton caught the Saints defence off guard and second row Joe Philbin chipped the ball into the in-goal area and managed to touchdown wide on the left before it went dead.

Patton added the conversion but Saints responded 15 minutes before the break when an inside ball from Charnock found second row Andre Savelio close to the line and he managed to ground the ball at the side of the posts with three defenders on him.

Charnock converted to give his side a narrow 12-10 interval advantage.

St Helens increased their lead 11 minutes into the second half when they managed to keep the ball alive on the last tackle and substitute Jonah Cunningham burrowed over at the side of the posts.

Hewitt converted and 13 minutes later Hewitt was held just short but a quick play-the-ball gave them a big overlap and that allowed centre Matty Fleming to squeeze over in the right corner.

The visitors made the game safe 11 minutes from time when a quick 20 metre tap by full back Ricky Bailey saw him spot a gap in the Wolves line and he raced s down the middle before finding Richardson in support and he weaved his way over at the side of 50 metres to the posts.

Charnock added on the extras before the Wolves gained a consolation try two minutes from the end.

A high kick early in the tackle count from Patton caught Saints flat-footed and centre Toby King collected to score wide out on the left. Patton converted to make the final score 28-16.