Warrington Wolves v Saints

Saints let a 14-point lead slip as Warrington Wolves handed them a 40-18 defeat on Friday night.

A try from Adam Swift after just 45 seconds alongside Ryan Morgan’s fifth of the year, coupled with three from the boot of Tommy Makinson, built a healthy advantage before the half hour mark.

But Warrington bagged two in the final stages of the first half and went on to cross a further four times as the momentum swung before Dominique Peyroux’s late score.

Even then, Ryan Atkins grabbed his second at the death to draw the Wolves level with Saints in the Betfred Super League table.

After such a promising opening the three-man interim coaching staff were left scratching their heads at what their charges produced.

For 25 minutes, Saints dominated and it came after some upheaval in the warm-up.

Jon Wilkin pulled out with a hamstring issue and that meant Morgan Knowles moving into the second row with Peyroux replacing him on the bench.

It didn’t seem to affect the visitors one iota either as within 45 seconds they were in front.

Luke Douglas tipped back Tommy Makinson’s kick off and following a couple of superb offloads Swift crossed in the corner.

Makinson adding the extras from the touchline.

Saints then forced two drop outs after slick Matty Smith kicks – but once Warrington were caught offside in front of their own posts, Makinson took the opportunity to slot over a penalty.

After being so dominant, the defence were then called on to stand firm as the home side got into the game.

And they did just that; Warrington being held up over the line on 20 minutes before the video referee took an eon to correctly rule out a Tom Lineham effort a minute later.

Swift with a quality tackle to stop the try.

Saints then turned that heroic defence into attack.

After the Wolves were penalised for a high shot on Fages, he linked with Smith to put Ryan Morgan over from 20 yards out.

The centre backing himself to crash through his marker.

Saints more than deserved their lead but errors began to creep in and as a result the Wolves took the game to Saints.

Benjamin Jullien pulled one back on the half hour mark before Mike Cooper dove under the posts with five remaining.

That made it a two-point game at half time but Saints were a complete contrast to their first half efforts on the restart.

Adam Walker lost the ball in the first tackle, and that set the stall for the remainder of the game.

An error handed the ball to Harvey Livett on 45 minutes and five later, Rhys Evans took a short pass on the last to make it 22-14.

Tom Lineham pounced on another error shortly afterwards for Warrington’s fifth try and then Ryan Atkins scored after a tremendous break.

In reality, that was the game at the hour mark but Saints steadied the ship and did get over when Peyroux crossed for his sixth in the red vee.

They arguably could have had more too if execution would have been shipshape.

But Atkins crashed over at the death to cap a miserable night for the Saints who must pick themselves up for their biggest game of the season when they travel to Castleford in the cup.

Match Summary:

Wolves:

Tries: Jullien, Cooper, Livett, Evans, Lineham, Atkins (2)

Goals: Livett (6 from 7)

Saints:

Tries: Swift, Morgan, Peyroux

Goals: Makinson (3 from 4)

Penalties Awarded:

Wolves: 8

Saints: 8

HT: 12-14

FT: 40-18

REF: Phil Bentham

ATT: 11,681

Teams:

Wolves:

7. Kurt Gidley; 5. Matthew Russell, 3. Rhys Evans, 4. Ryan Atkins, 2. Tom Lineham; 22. Declan Patton, 28. Harvey Livett; 14. Mike Cooper, 15. Brad Dwyer, 10. Ashton Sims, 24. Benjamin Jullien, 12. Jack Hughes, 34. Ben Westwood.

Subs: 16. George King, 17. Dominic Crosby, 23. Joe Philbin, 27. Morgan Smith.

Saints:

2. Tommy Makinson; 5. Adam Swift, 26. Jake Spedding, 3. Ryan Morgan, 28. Regan Grace: 6. Theo Fages, 7. Matty Smith; 10. Kyle Amor, 17. Tommy Lee, 14. Luke Douglas, 36. Zeb Taia, 20. Morgan Knowles, 16. Luke Thompson.

Subs: 9. James Roby, 13. Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook, 15. Adam Walker, 18. Dominique Peyroux.