For the third consecutive year, Warrington Wolves will feature in the Challenge Cup semi-finals after a 24-10 victory over Leigh Leopards.
Wire ran in four tries, including two from Ben Currie in the final 10 minutes which blew the game out of the water for Adrian Lam’s side, who have now been beaten by Warrington two weeks in a row.
Warrington welcomed back three players for the tie, including superstar full-back Cai Taylor-Wray. Forwards Luke Yates and Kelepi Tanginoa also returned, however Yates’ comeback game would come to an abrupt end after suffering an injury in the first half.
Regardless, boss Sam Burgess was left pleased with how his side performed, as they produced a victory that was quite different from the rest of their wins this season.
In what was a very untidy affair with errors aplenty, Warrington managed to take control in the final quarter to proceed to the last four, to the delight of the Wolves head coach.
Speaking post-match, the NRL and England legend said: “It was a different way for us to play today. I thought it was a really scrappy game, tough game.
“It didn’t all go our way in the first half and we’re a bit uncharacteristic at times, but our main character, our grit and determination was there. We just needed to tidy up parts of our game.
“I thought the ruck was a bit slower today. They managed to slow it down a little bit in the first half by I’d say, but in the second half, we got a bit of ascendency on that. It was a hard day’s work.”
No update has been given on Yates’ injury, in what is arguably the only downside to this evening’s outcome.
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Warrington Wolves boss gives thoughts on winger’s sin-bin
A potentially game-changing moment of the match saw Josh Thewlis sin-binned for delaying a Leigh restart. George Williams’ kick had travelled over the dead ball line and Thewlis knocked the ball into the crowd, leaving referee Jack Smith no choice but to send the winger to the sin-bin.
Addressing that incident, Burgess said:Â “I need to have a look at that, the sin-binning. I’m not so sure about it, but I was happy the way we handled it.
Everything’s been really smooth for us this year. I like the way we won today. We had a few bumps and bruises, so we’ll have to recover and get ready for the league next week.”
Warrington face a trip to Catalans Dragons next, who exited the Challenge Cup earlier this weekend after defeat to St Helens.
