IT is Hull KR and not Warrington Wolves who sit top of Super League after the Robins came away from the Halliwell Jones Stadium 22-4 victors on Friday night.
After last week’s resounding win over champions Wigan, hopes were high for Warrington who could have opened up a gap in Super League’s top two, but they were second best from almost start to finish as their recent winning run came to an end.
Even a debut for new signing John Bateman couldn’t lift the Wolves, who tried to fight back from a 10-0 halftime deficit.
Hull KR got the first try on the board through Jesse Sue, powering over close to the posts, for a score that really lifted the visitor’s intensity and it was something Warrington struggled to match for large parts.
Ryan Hall had a try ruled out for a knock on on 15 minutes, but from a similar Mikey Lewis kick a few minutes later, Tyrone May climbed highest for 10-0.
Lewis would continually target Josh Thewlis’ wing with kicks on the last, and Hall had another try ruled out by the video referee for a knock-on as he put Thewlis under pressure.
Warrington struggled to build any attacking pressure, George Williams having an uncharacteristically poor night with the ball, though did think they’d got themselves back in the game on the half hour mark from nothing when Thewlis scooped up a loose ball and outpaced Joe Burgess over 60 metres. However, replays showed that Luke Yates, on his home debut, had inadvertently knocked on after Williams’ tackle on Lewis had forced the ball loose and the try was chalked off.
That did at least prompt Warrington’s best spell of the match, as they built pressure courtesy of a couple of drop outs, and when they next got over the line through Josh Drinkwater, only the attention of four Hull KR defenders held him up.
Trailing 10-0 at half time, Warrington started the second half on the front foot, off the back of three penalties, and finally got themselves on the board through Matty Ashton, off Matt Dufty’s cut out pass, on 48 minutes for 10-4.
They couldn’t follow that up with further scores though, and were punished by Lewis – who again went to the left on the last with a high kick, and when the ball was knocked by Hall, Lewis gathered and managed to beat four Wolves defenders to the line.
Hull KR now led 16-4 and Warrington had it all to do in the final quarter, and they simply couldn’t get close enough. A Danny Walker 40/20 gave them a platform, but a sloppy Zane Musgrove pass put an end to that move, and Williams continued to struggle with his kicks.
Despite their failure to add a drop goal, Hull KR rounded off the scoring late on when former Wolves centre Peta Hiku took a May pass and found his way over.
Warrington: Dufty, Thewlis, Tai, Lindop, Ashton (T), Williams, Drinkwater, Drinkwater, Yates, Powell, Vaughan, Nicholson, Holroyd, Currie. Subs: Musgrove, Walker, Crowther, Bateman.
Hull KR: Evalds, Burgess, Hiku (T), Gildart, Hall, May (T), Lewis (T, 1G), Sue (T), Parcell, Whitbread, Hadley, Batchelor, Minchella. Subs: Litten (2G), Luckley, Brown, Tanginoa.
