BEFORE the game, it was clear to see where Warrington Wolves had the advantage over a depleted Hull FC side.

And eventually, they were able to press it home.

The Black and Whites were without the services of five of the six players who started in their pack in Round One – Herman Ese’ese, Franklin Pele and Ligi Sao were suspended while Danny Houghton and Joe Cator were injured.

By contrast, Wire were able to call upon the majority of their first-choice forwards barring the injured Matty Nicholson and the suspended Jordy Crowther, and they made a point of attacking the middle at every possible opportunity.

Wire’s players made 1,274 metres at an average of just over 7.5m per carry on Friday night in comparison to the 814 Hull made at an average of 6.26m per carry, while The Wire also made 10 dummy-half carries compared to Hull’s four.

Their physical dominance is underlined in a few other areas too – Wire made twice as many tackle busts as their opponents (36 to 18) while they also made 664 post-contact metres compared to Hull’s 426.

However, Sam Burgess will want to see his side’s respect for possession improve – 10 errors and a 68 per cent completion rate will have to be better going forward and while the tricky conditions and heavy pitch can provide some mitigation, their opponents still managed a highly respectable completion rate of 87 per cent.

Warrington Guardian:

Another huge display from Vaughan

Wire’s physical dominance on the night was perhaps epitomised by the individual joy Paul Vaughan had.

The prop made a mammoth 187 metres – far higher than any other player on the field – at an average of 10.7m per carry as Hull’s young pack struggled to contain him.

He was one of four Wire players to clear 100 metres – Lachlan Fitzgibbon capped another impressive display with 123 metres and a try assist while Matt Dufty (115) and Toby King (103) also reached three figures.

Warrington Guardian:

Hayes stands tall

Homegrown scrum-half Leon Hayes is only 5ft 4ins tall, and that lack of height will naturally make him a target for opponents when they attack.

Hull regularly attacked his right edge and found success on a few occasions, but Hayes once again did his defensive duties relatively well.

No Wire player made more than his 27 tackles – an indication of how much he was targeted – while he missed just one.

Danny Walker (26) and Ben Currie (23) were the team’s other top tacklers while Vaughan backed up his superb shift with the ball with 21 tackles without recording a single miss.

Warrington Guardian: Leon Hayes, far left, made more tackles than any other Wire playerLeon Hayes, far left, made more tackles than any other Wire player (Image: Mike Boden)