Warrington Wolves u19 16 London Broncos u19 30

WIRE under 19s head coach Stuart Barrow branded his side’s defence in Saturday’s defeat to London Broncos as “toothless.”

The hosts conceded five tries in all at Victoria Park as their three-game winning run was brought to a shuddering halt.

Barrow admitted his side were “second best” throughout against an impressive Broncos side.

“We were well short of the standards the lads have set themselves over the past few weeks,” he said.

“We seemed to be second best from the outset and looked flat, which was very surprising after our recent results.

“We were out enthused and outplayed by a competitive London side.

“The most disappointing aspect was our defence. It was toothless and we conceded some soft tries.

“We will review the game and train hard to fix up our errors.”

After London had taken an early lead through Caley Gray’s try, The Wire brought themselves back on terms when Cole Oakley, Joe Edge and Fynn Stanley combined to put Lewis Hall over in the left corner.

However, two tries in the space of three minutes midway through the first half swung the game in London’s favour.

Max Savage and Daniel Hindmarsh-Tiyaki were the try-scorers, while Rhys Joel added a penalty on the stroke of half-time to give the visitors a commanding 20-6 lead at the break.

The Broncos really did take control after the interval as Gideon Boafo and Ryan Couch crossed, but The Wire did finish with a flourish.

Sam Storey and Liam Brinskman crossed in the final 10 minutes, but it proved too little too late.

Barrow’s side host their counterparts from Widnes Vikings on Saturday, kick off 11am.

Wolves: Joe Edge; Liam Brinksman, Sam Storey, Fynn Stanley, Lewis Hall; Riley Dean, Ritchie Westwood; Tayler Brown, Elliott Windley, Jack Wright, Cole Oakley, Luis Johnson, Ellis Robson. Subs: Brad Pinder, Jack Wilson, Lee Dyas, Jordan Olmez.