Warrington Wolves beat Catalans Dragons for their first win in six matches

WOLVES got their first victory in six games as they prevailed in a tense affair against fellow strugglers Catalans.

Ryan Atkins was the headline act, scoring twice to take him to 150 tries in a Warrington shirt.

Benjamin Jullien and Andre Savelio also crossed for The Wire to allow them to leapfrog their visitors.

Jodie Broughton had opened the scoring for the French side and ex-Wire Richie Myler added a brace, but it was a losing start for new Dragons coach Steve McNamara.

Wolves have often chased games this season and today was no different after their defence was breached after just two minutes.

The visitors worked the ball wide and Broughton was able to squeeze over in the corner on his return from injury.

However, The Wire responded well and Jullien was able to dive over after taking an excellent offload from Atkins.

The centre turned from provider to scorer after another period of pressure midway through the first period.

After Kevin Penny had earned another set of six on the Dragons line, Atkins spotted a gap at the play the ball and muscled over the whitewash.

However, frailties remained in defence and ex-Wire Myler exploited them ruthlessly by cutting in on the angle to level the scores before Gidley edged Wolves in front with a penalty just before the break.

Another two-pointer from Gidley extended Wolves’ lead after the break before Atkins got his magic moment.

After a superb break from Will Dagger, Gidley spotted an overlap on the Dragons’ right edge and floated a beautiful high kick for Atkins to claim and score try number 150 in primrose and blue.

However, Catalans were not done and Myler chased his own kick through to dot the ball down and narrow the lead to two points.

Thankfully from a Wire perspective, the Dragons never looked like overhauling the lead and another superb Dagger break earned a penalty in the last minute and, from the first tackle, Savelio rumbled over to seal the victory.

Wolves: Dagger, Johnson, Hughes, Atkins, Penny; Patton, Gidley; Hill, Dwyer, Cooper, Jullien, Philbin, Westerman. Subs: Clark, Sims, Savelio, Wilde.