Wolves maul Hull KR
Warrington Wolves moved back to the top of the Super League table following a 42-10 victory over Hull KR on Sunday.
Last Updated: 26/02/12 6:07pm
Warrington Wolves moved back to the top of the Super League table after cruising to a 42-10 victory over Hull KR on Sunday despite a valiant fightback by the visitors.
The Wolves had built an 18-0 half-time lead before tries from Hull pair Rhys Lovegrove and Craig Hall cut the advantage to just eight points midway through the second half.
But winger Chris Riley grabbed his second try of the game on 63 minutes to ease any Warrington concerns.
The home side made the game safe when Ben Westwood crashed over for two tries in two minutes and Ryan Atkins also crossed, as the Wolves ran in three tries in the final six minutes.
Brett Hodgson collected a 14-point haul on his first appearance of the season with seven goals from seven attempts.
Both sides started in impressive style showing their attacking intentions but could not make an early breakthrough.
Excellent
The deadlock was broken on 13 minutes though, when Atkins split the Rovers defence and Richie Myler sent Riley over for the opening try. Brett Hodgson converted from the touchline.
The home side extended their lead 10 minutes later when some fast and accurate passing along the line allowed Chris Bridge to step inside the Rovers defence and use his pace to touch down. Hodgson again converted.
Hull KR were still seeing plenty of the ball in excellent positions but could not put the finishing touches to their fine approach work, due to either the final pass going to ground or a resilient Warrington rearguard.
The home side increased their lead further six minutes before half time when Trent Waterhouse managed to squeeze the ball out of the tackle to Myler and his long pass allowed Atkins to score in the corner.
Hodgson maintained his 100% record with the boot to make it 18-0.
Hull KR's first half was summed up in the final seconds when they had 15 consecutive tackles close to the Warrington line but once again could find no way through the home defence.
Dramatic
Three minutes after the restart though, they were finally rewarded with their first points of the game when Lovegrove just outpaced the chasing Atkins to touch down in the corner.
Michael Dobson was unlucky to see his difficult touchline conversion hit the crossbar.
Things got even better for the visitors on 56 minutes when Josh Hodgson sent Hall racing clear to score under the posts and Dobson's conversion cut the deficit to just eight points at 18-10.
But any hopes of a dramatic comeback were snuffed out on 63 minutes when Stefan Ratchford's long pass allowed Riley to clam his second try of the game and Brett Hodgson again landed the touchline conversion.
The Wolves then finished in blistering fashion with three tries in the final six minutes as second row forward Westwood claimed a quickfire double with two tries in two minutes and Atkins rounded the scoring off with his second try of the game.