St Helens u19 32 Warrington Wolves u19 4

WOLVES under 19s will be looking to return to winning ways against London Broncos at Victoria Park Stadium on Saturday, kick-off noon, after successive defeats.

Friday's 32-4 fall against St Helens in a Super League curtain-raiser at the Totally Wicked Stadium followed hot on the heels of a first loss in 2019 to Wigan 32-18.

“We have come up against two very physical teams over the past six days and it will be a great learning curve for the lads," said Wolves acaemy head coach Paul Anderson.

"We allowed them to capitalise on our errors in the first half but I thought after the break we were a lot better and finished the game well.

"The way the lads didn’t let their heads drop was a credit to them.”

Wolves' only try, scored by centre Nathan Roebuck following a 40-metre dash by winger Liam Brinksman, came while they were down to 12 men due to the other wingman Sam Thackeray being in the sin bin for holding down after a Saints break.

That made it 14-4 but Saints crossed again before the break, before wrapping up the contest with two second-half tries.

Saints opened the scoring in the fourth minute when they sent the ball along the line to centre Joshua Simm who brushed off two defenders to score wide out on the right.

Eight minutes later a clever chip into the Wolves in-goal area by stand off Ryan Horne saw second row Sam Royle react the quickest to touchdown. Scrum half Lewis Dodd added the conversion.

Saints moved further ahead when Simm took the ball towards the Wolves line and as he looked as though he would be bundled into touch he managed to offload to hooker Paul Nash who scored wide out on the right.

It was midway through the half that Thackeray was sin binned for holding down on his own line following a Saints break and Warrington responded with Roebuck's try.

Eight minutes before the breakDodd found substitute Warren Smith who powered over at the left of the posts from close range. Dodd converted to make the half time score 20-4 to the home side.

Three minutes into the second half a dropped ball by Wolves was pounced on by Simm and he raced 30 metres unopposed to score on the right.

Dodd converted and then four minutes later the Wolves had scrum half David Gibbons yellow carded for dissent.

Just before the hour a fine break by Saints down the right split the Wolves defence and the ball was passed out to winger Jumah Sambou who used his strength to score at the right of the posts. Dodd converted and that proved to be the final scoring action.

Saints: Tom Nisbet; John Hutchings, Nico Rizzelli, Joshua Simm, Jumah Sambou; Ryan Horne, Lewis Dodd; Christian Kellett, Paul Nash, Kye Siyani, Matt Foster, Sam Royle, Jake Wingfield. Subs: Keenan McDaid, Harry Brooks, Lewis Baxter, Warren Smith.

Tries: Simm (4 mins, 43), Royle (12), Nash (17), Smith (32), Sambou (58).

Goals: Dodd 4 from 6

Wolves: Josh Thewlis, Liam Brinksman, Nathan Roebuck, Cole Oakley, Sam Thackeray, Riley Dean, David Gibbons, Morgan Burgess, Padraig Anglin-Sheedy, Jacob Chamberlain, Ellis Longstaff, Connor Wrench, Tayler Brown. Subs: Jamie Abram, Jacob Gannon, Jack Wright, Dean Beddall.

Tries: Roebuck (27 mins).