Warrington Wolves travelled to the DW Stadium to face Wigan Warriors tonight in a clash that saw two teams fighting to retain their place in the top six.
Both sides started the season on top form, with Wigan’s victory in round nine being Warrington’s first loss of the season, whilst it saw Wigan make it seven from nine at the time.
Since then Warrington have won just three highlighting the steep drop-off in form from Warrington leaving them sat in fifth, with their opponents in fourth, both on 22 points a piece, just ahead of the chasing pack of Salford, Leeds and both Hull sides.
The pressure is certainly on for Warrington with Daryl Powell’s men currently on a run that includes five losses in six, whilst Wigan have lost three of their last five.
Included in that was the shock loss last week to Wakefield Trinity whereas Warrington had fell short against St Helens meaning both sides desperately needed the two points on offer.
The major injury news ahead of the game came when George Williams once again missed out for Warrington leaving Danny Walker to pair Josh Drinkwater in the halves, with Daryl Clark operating at hooker.
📋 TEAM NEWS with @CheshireMould
Our line-up to take on the Warriors 👊 pic.twitter.com/POmU5W3kis
— Warrington Wolves (@WarringtonRLFC) July 14, 2023
As for Wigan they once again went with Bevan French in the halves whilst Warrington’s own Toby King featured in the centres against his parent club with Kaide Ellis returning following suspension for his red card against Warrington in the cup. Kai Pearce-Paul returns to the bench after missing out through injury since May.
📋 𝗧𝗘𝗔𝗠 𝗡𝗘𝗪𝗦
✅ Matt Peet has named his team to face @WarringtonRLFC this evening!
#WWRL #SLWIGWAR pic.twitter.com/O8VjjexJrH
— Wigan Warriors 🍒⚪️ (@WiganWarriorsRL) July 14, 2023
Highlights
Wire start hot
Warrington desperately needed the win tonight and gave themselves a great platform scoring after seven minutes. After forcing a drop-out Joe Philbin worked his arm free for an offload following a dominant run, allowing Daryl Clark to play a crash ball to prop James Harrison to punch over and open the scoring.
No-look French feeds Marshall
It was a long time before another point was scored but it came to Wigan, twenty minutes after the opener, and Bevan French was influential. In a move shifting to the left he eye-balled his man drawing him in and then played a bullet cut-out pass to Liam Marshall who was able to walk in at the corner and level the scores.
Clark crashes over
The response was far quicker as Warrington found positive territory and it was their hooker Daryl Clark who got the try in classic Clarke fashion. The former Man of Steel picked the ball up from the ruck feigning a pass to the right before darting through the gap left by Patrick Mago.
Instant response from Wigan
Wigan got back on level terms almost immediately and it all came from a mini line break from Harry Smith. Set to kick he noticed a chink in the Warrington defensive line, stepping through it allowed him to find a pass out wide and set about a huge overlap. Jake Wardle carried from halfway and hit the supporting line of Bevan French who slid over to mean both teams went in at 12 points a piece.
Double blow for Warrington
Early in the second-half Wigan knocked over a penalty through Harry Smith but from the kick-off they lost Joe Philbin to a HIA after a bruising run by Kai Pearce-Paul. The youngster was again involved minutes later helping establish territory from which Bevan French played in Jake Wardle to score untouched and make it 20-12.
Penalties galore
The ruck speed prompted problems in the game and some of those were exacerbated by decisions from the match officials with a series of very unpopular penalties being called against both sides. Both sides squandered brilliant territory on account of their ill discipline and as such the game was set up for a grandstand final 10 minutes with the scores remaining 20-12.
Farrell finishes it off
The hectic period was ended by the ever-impressive Liam Farrell. Warrington looked like scoring on their left edge but a desperate pass bounced Wigan’s way and within 60 seconds they were up the other end of the field with Farrell scoring from Wigan’s own left edge after a great support line for Jai Field.
Talking Points
Walker replacing Williams?
It’s almost impossible to replace George Williams but eyebrows were raised when Danny Walker was given the role however the England international performed well, although he’s the clear future of the club at hooker.
Warrington’s weird stats
During the game it was referenced by Jon Wilkin that Warrington had gone on to win 82% of the games in which they scored first this season, that sadly wasn’t the case tonight for them. A key reason they lost was due to their inability to score a second-half try however they were missing both Matty Ashton and Josh Thewlis, who have contributed over 30% of their tries this season. They desperately need those wingers to return.
Smith kicks into action
Harry Smith has had plenty of criticism this season for his goal-kicking which was running at 61% prior to the game however he boosted that tonight. He kicked five out of five and his in-play bombs also showed what a brilliant asset his left boot is. A very impressive performance.
Ruck speed off the charts
The six-again rule has huge critics but one thing it has done is speed the game up and at times tonight the game was played at an electric pace. There were plenty of runs from dummy-half but speed doesn’t always bring quality and at times the game, whilst entertaining, became very scrappy and error-strewn on account of the intense ruck speed.
Player Ratings
Wigan Warriors
1: Jai Field – 6
23: Abbas Miski – 6
3: Toby King – 7
4: Jake Wardle – 8
5: Liam Marshall – 8
2: Bevan French – 8
7: Harry Smith – 9
15: Kaide Ellis – 7
22: Brad O’Neill – 6
10: Liam Byrne – 6
19: Joe Shorrocks – 7
12: Liam Farrell – 8
13: Morgan Smithies – 7
Subs
17: Kai Pearce-Paul – 8
20: Patrick Mago – 6
26: Harvie Hill – NA
27: Junior Nsemba – NA
Warrington Wolves
1: Matt Dufty – 6
34: Matty Russell – 5
3: Peter Mata’utia – 5
4: Stefan Ratchford – 6
21: Greg Minikin – 6
16: Danny Walker – 7
7: Josh Drinkwater – 6
17: Gil Dudson – 5
9: Daryl Clark – 8
10: Paul Vaughan – 6
11: Ben Currie – 7
12: Matty Nicholson – 6
15: Joe Philbin – 6
Subs
14: Sam Kasiano – 5
19: Joe Bullock – NA
23: Tom Whitehead – NA
26: Adam Holroyd – NA
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