Warrington Wolves 36-20 Salford Red Devils: Highlights, player ratings and talking points

Warrington made it three wins from three against Salford in a game with two eight-point tries.

Highlights:

Salford exciting start
Seen as a clash of styles between the big and powerful Wolves and the expansive Salford Red Devils and that was shown early as the first tackle saw the Wolves rip into Salford in defence but soon the expansive Red Devils had Warrington chasing shadows. A warning shot from Salford but good defence from the Wolves.

Williams kick creates Currie try
Warrington began to dominate down the middle and building pressure through the middle before a lovely George Williams kick was grounded by Ben Currie.

Warrington hurt by one of their own
Warrington loanee Ellis Longstaff was on debut for Salford Red Devils and backed up after a lovely short side play released Joe Burgess. Burgess found Longstaff to score 11 minutes into his debut.

Break away try
A great intercept from Ken Sio as he clung to the ball from George Williams and support from Ryan Brierley coupled with the fullback’s pace saw the Red Devils race away and score to give Salford the lead.

Salford on a roll
The Red Devils were on a roll and they rolled down field with a great show and go and bump from prop Tyler Dupree as he gave the Warrington pack as good as they gave. After this break, Marc Sneyd snuck through a gap and touched down besides the posts.

Warrington hit back
The Wolves needed a score at the start of the second half and after havoc was created down the right after a long George Williams pass, another pass out wide gave Ashton the space he needed for an acrobatic finish in the corner.

Sensational Salford defence
It looked certain that Warrington would score straight after that Ashton try when Currie patted back a kick to Ashton and he darted over but Brodie Croft held him up. Then the Red Deviks stood up to repel repeat sets of pressure.

Penalties lead to Warrington try
After busting through the middle of the Salford defence, holding down gave Warrington a penalty and saw Ryan Brierley sin binned. More penalties followed until Tom Mikaele burrowed over under the sticks for a simple score.

Bombed chance
Warrington looked set to take the lead when Daryl Clark broke and found Matt Dufty in support but the usually trustworthy fullback dropped the pass.

Try of the season contender steeped in controversy
Warrington then scored a try of the season contender as a series of offloads allowed Matty Ashton some space. He darted back inside and offloaded to George Williams. Williams kicked wide and found Josh Thewlis to score. That levelled matters, Ratchford missed the conversion but that wasn’t important because he was given a second crack at it as Tyler Dupree was penalised in the act of scoring creating an eight-point try. Thus Ratchford made it 22-20 making Marc Sneyd’s penalty miss crucial.

Williams wrecks Salford’s defence
Warrington took a more commanding lead as George Williams jinked through the Salford defence after a scrum to speed to the line.

Another eight-point try
Another eight point try came after a lovely offload from some top Peter Mata’utia footwork allowed Matt Dufty to dive over but as he was hit in the face by Kallum Watkins as he attempted to tackle him an eight point try was given.

Talking Points:

Key moments go against Salford
The key moments went against the Red Devils tonight such as the sin bin to Brierley and the eight point try. The Brierley bin killed Salford with the Wolves scoring three times in his absence. Bizarrely there was a second eight-point try later in the game.

Warrington show character
When Warrington trailed 20-6 many were likely expecting them to capitulate but they did the opposite. They showed a character that wasn’t there in 2022.

Williams performing like Man of Steel against the Man of Steel
Up against the reigning Man of Steel Brodie Croft, George Williams played like the Man of Steel in waiting as he helped mastermind Warrington’s amazing comeback.

Salford still looking good
Salford may have shown their weaknesses in the last two games but they still look like a great side who have points in them and threatened Warrington like no one else has in the opening two weeks.

Is it Warrington’s year?
The character, the style, the determination of the win tonight from the Warrington Wolves shows that they can indeed compete with the likes of St Helens in 2023.

Player Ratings:

Warrington
1 Matt Dufty – 7
2 Josh Thewlis – 7
21 Greg Minikin – 7
4 Stefan Ratchford – 7
5 Matty Ashton – 8
6 George Williams – 9
7 Josh Drinkwater – 8
18 Tom Mikaele – 8
9 Daryl Clark – 8
10 Paul Vaughan – 8
11 Ben Currie – 8
3 Peter Mata’utia – 7
8 James Harrison – 7
Substitutes
14 Sam Kasiano – 7
16 Danny Walker – 7
19 Joe Bullock – 7
23 Tom Whitehead – 7

Salford
1 Ryan Brierley – 7
2 Ken Sio – 7
28 Deon Cross – 6
4 Tim Lafai – 7
5 Joe Burgess – 7
6 Brodie Croft – 6
7 Marc Sneyd – 7
8 Jack Ormondroyd – 6
9 Andy Ackers – 7
16 Tyler Dupree – 8
3 Kallum Watkins – 7
20 Ellis Longstaff – 7
13 Oliver Partington – 8
Substitutes
19 Adam Sidlow – 6
10 King Vuniyayawa – 6
14 Chris Atkin – 6
17 Shane Wright – 6