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Chris Hicks celebrates his record-breaking try on Good Friday.

Warrington Wolves 30 Huddersfield Giants 14.

MOST players spend years at a club and never break a record. Chris Hicks needed just seven games.

The former Manly man wrote his name into the Warrington record books on Good Friday when he became the first player in the club's history to score in each of the first seven matches of a season.

Over the course of 114 seasons more than a thousand rugby league players have come and gone without managing such a feat - the great Brian Bevan twice reached six games but went no further, while Henry Fa'afili was also halted at six two years ago.

The club's reluctant decision to release Fa'afili at the end of last season sparked an outcry from fans, dismayed that Wolves were losing a winger who had been a reliable try scorer since his arrival in 2004.

They need not have worried.

Hicks and Martin Gleeson have already replicated the formidable partnership Fa'afili had with his centre and Wolves' new wide man has remarkably proved even more prolific than the departed Kiwi.

The try that broke the record - another master class of close-range finishing - was Hicks' ninth in seven matches.

It was followed in the second half by number 10, with the winger touching down Lee Briers' kick for the sort of try that became Fa'afili's trade mark.

Hicks' display against Huddersfield - in front of family who had travelled over from Australia - was near faultless but even he was outplayed by Gleeson, who is back to his bamboozling best after the injuries that dogged him last year.

Add an impressive Briers to the mix and the visitors had no answer to Wolves' deadly right side.

Without scrum half Michael Monaghan through injury, Wolves were in danger of being over-reliant on Briers as they were when Huddersfield twice won at The Halliwell Jones last year.

The stop Briers, stop Warrington' approach worked like a dream then but this time they could not stop Briers or the rest of a Wolves 17 that included the recalled Kevin Penny as well as Mark Gleeson - substitute for a club record 100th time.

It was a sensible rather than sensational performance, with Paul Cullen warning his troops pre-match not to overdo things in attack after they had chucked away possession and the points at Bradford five days earlier.

Huddersfield briefly threatened in the first half when Louis Anderson was sent to the sin bin for a late tackle on kicker Kevin Brown - worryingly the third time the hard-hitting back rower has been shown the yellow card so far this year.

But it will take more than a short-lived attacking flurry if Wolves are to give up their 100 per cent home record.

Match facts

Warrington Wolves 30 Huddersfield Giants 14

Wolves: Stuart Reardon; Chris Hicks (2t), Martin Gleeson (1t), Matt King, Kevin Penny; Vinnie Anderson, Lee Briers (1t, 5g); Adrian Morley, Jon Clarke, Paul Rauhihi, Ben Westwood, Paul Johnson, Louis Anderson. Subs used: Rob Parker, Mark Gleeson, Steve Pickersgill, Andy Bracek (1t).

Giants: Leroy Cudjoe (2g); Shane Elford, Paul Whatuira, Jamahl Lolesi (1t), Rod Jensen; Kevin Brown, Luke Robinson; Keith Mason, Ryan Hudson, John Skandalis, Andy Raleigh, Stuart Jones, Stephen Wild. Subs used: Eorl Crabtree (1t), Paul Jackson, Tom Hemingway (1g), Steve Snitch.

Referee: Ben Thaler

Scoring: Briers finishes a 60m move after devastating surges from Hicks and Johnson follow Vinnie Anderson's offload, 5mins, Briers converts, 6-0; Cudjoe kicks penalty, 10mins, 6-2; Lolesi scores in the corner from Brown's pass, 24mins, 6-6; Hicks steps inside from Briers' pass, 30mins, 10-6; Briers lands penalty, 37mins, 12-6; Hemingway kicks penalty, 40+mins, 12-8; Briers lands penalty, 46mins, 14-8; Martin Gleeson bamboozles the defence with his footwork before swapping passes with Hicks to score a 60m try, 48mins, Briers converts, 20-8; Crabtree careers over from close range, 52mins, Cudjoe converts, 20-14; Hicks touches down Briers' chip to the corner, 55mins, 24-14; Briers kicks penalty, 64mins, 26-14; Bracek scores a try on his 21st birthday after Briers had put Martin Gleeson away, 80+mins, 30-14.

Sin bin: Wolves: Louis Anderson 15mins (late tackle).

Pens: Wolves 10 Giants 6

Scrums: Wolves 5 Giants 5

Attendance: 9,324

Warrington Guardian top men: Martin Gleeson 3pts, Hicks 2pts, Briers 1pt.

Interesting note: Briers' three penalties were the first Wolves had kicked during 2008.

5:57am Thursday 27th March 2008

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