Wolves beat minos
By Sports staff
WOOLSTON Rovers did themselves and the town of Warrington proud as they put up a superb display of gritty rugby against their illustrious Super League neighbours, in this historic Challenge Cup fourth round clash at Wilderspool.
Warrington’s reward is a tougher local derby against Northern Ford Premiership neighbours Leigh, who pulled off the shock of the round, beating Super League Salford 18-12 at Hilton Park.
Against National Conference outfit Woolston, Warrington were made to battle hard for all their points and the biggest cheer of the afternoon from the 6,000 plus crowd was for Rover’s skipper Steve Martin, when he crossed for super try.
It had been Martin’s dream to play against Warrington and he confidentally predicted earlier in the week that his team would not be nilled. He converted his own try to narrow Warrington’s lead to 20-6 at the interval.
Warrington struggled to get into top gear with centre Ian Sibbitt doing most damage, grabbing a hat-trick of tries in the opening half an hour and setting up one for second rower Ian Knott. Rob Smythe managed two conversions.
Early in the second half winger Jamie Stenhouse crossed to make it 24-6 but the floodgates did not open and Rovers were unlucky to have a score disallowed.
In the closing quarter Warrington showed their superior fitness adding further tries through Tawera Nikau, Kevin Walters and David Kidwell, both scoring on their debut.
Paul Noone added the final score in the closing seconds with Smythe adding four second half conversions.
Warrington will have to be a lot sharper when they face Leigh who are on a roll with much more match practice under their belts.
Other ties include: Castleford v Leeds, Halifax v Bradford, Gateshead v St Helens, Huddersfield v Doncaster and Rochdale v Villeneuve.
