FULL TIME, PICTURES ADDED: Warrington Wolves 50 London Broncos 10 (From This Is Cheshire)

FULL TIME, PICTURES ADDED: Warrington Wolves 50 London Broncos 10

5:08pm Sunday 12th February 2012 in Sport By Christopher Terris Taylor

WARRINGTON Wolves made amends for last week’s disappointing start to the Super League season with a comfortable 50-10 defeat of London Broncos at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

A shaky start meant Wolves were a try down in the opening exchanges, but the hosts’ class, power and determination shone through to see them soundly defeat Rob Powell’s new-look Broncos outfit.

Treated to some superb individual performances from a host of players in primrose and blue, Wolves’ expansive style was too much for the visitors to handle and tries for Atkins, two, Bridge, two, Briers, two, Joel Monaghan, two and Ratchford secured their first win of the new season.

But despite the final score, Broncos had originally refused to stick to the script set by previous meetings between the two sides.

After several sets testing the London line and a Ben Westwood try chalked off following a forward pass by Lee Briers, Broncos broke forward and scored with their first real attempt at the Warrington line. Scrambling defence by the hosts looked to have kept the visitors at bay until Michael Witt took on Simon Grix from close range and found a gap to saunter over. He converted his own try to seal a perfect start for the London side.

Conceding an early try looked to have given Wolves the wake-up call they needed. With a renewed sense of urgency they pushed forward, winning a penalty that would prove to be costly for Rob Powell’s side.

Briers, acting quickly while Broncos frantically tried to set themselves, spotted his side’s numerical advantage on the right and sent Chris Bridge crashing over to narrow the gap. Ben Westwood missed the chance to tag on the extras, but Wolves were back in the contest at 4-6 with 14 minutes gone.

Wolves were back to business as usual after the early scare, with their expansive play causing the visitors problems out wide. It was no surprise, then, to see Warrington profit from this approach on their next trip within the Broncos 20-metre line. Quick play-the-balls gave them good position in front of the posts and two long balls, first from Briers and secondly from Chris Bridge, sent Joel Monaghan over unopposed on the right. Ben Westwood slotted over the extras and with 17 minutes remaining in the first half, Wolves were ahead for the first time in the game.

Try as they might, Broncos were struggling to slow the rampant Wolves down when out of possession. Smith’ side, no strangers to wrestling tactics often used in an attempt to slow them down, were simply too much for the visitor’s tiring defence to handle.

Once again, Wolves third try came from quick play-the-balls catching the guests out of position and Chris Bridge was again the beneficiary as Warrington scored their best try of the afternoon so far. Sweeping passes from the left saw Grix pass to Briers, who lofted a high kick out to Monaghan on the wing. The Australian winger palmed the ball back to Bridge, who flopped over without resistance. Westwood added the extras.

No sooner had they scored one superb team effort, Wolves treated the assembled crowd to a wonderful individual try. Acting quickly after holding out one of London’s few attacks on their line, Wolves broke free through Ryan Atkins and the powerful centre left Broncos defenders in his wake as he charged forward. After exchanging passes with Briers, he finally dropped over to the left of the posts, giving Westwood another chance to add the conversion.

But that was not the last action of half, because Broncos, still reeling from the last two tries, romped up the field and touched down moments before the hooter sounded for half time. Michael Robertson was given too much space on the right wing and he crept over in the corner despite the attention of Rhys Evans. Michael Witt missed the touchline conversion attempt, but Broncos had reduced the deficit to 22-10 at the break.

Wolves were quick to re-open that lead following half time, with Bronco’s repeated high shots and poor discipline allowing the hosts to turn the screw with back-to-back penalties. As they had shown all afternoon, Wolves’ expansive style had proved difficult for the visitors to deal with and that is exactly how they extended their lead. First Joel Monaghan sprinted over on the right wing following passes from Bridge and Briers, before Ryan Atkins again used his raw pace to beat defenders to the line and add his second of the match. Westwood was successful with one conversion attempt and Wolves were sitting comfortably at 32-10 with only 10 minutes gone in the second half.

Already treated to one outstanding try, Wolves fans were then fortunate to witness a brilliant combination between two of Warrington’s talented young backs, Stefan Ratchford and Rhys Evans. Full back Ratchford sent Evans scampering away close to their own line, with the blonde winger scorching his way up the left flank to be tackled by two chasing Broncos defenders. But Ratchford had followed his teammate up the pitch, charging onto a sublime offload to race away into the corner and touch down his first Super League try for his new club. Westwood added the extras and Wolves were cruising at 38-10.

The hosts toned down the frantic attack after their bright start to the second half, meaning they had to wait until 71 minutes to cross for their next try. This time it was Lee Briers who added to Wolves’ tally, running a nice line onto Bridge’s short ball and tagging the extras on himself to cap a decent return to action after being dropped for a rule break last week.

But Briers was not done there, bursting through the tiring Broncos line in the final moments of the game to add a second try. He tagged on another conversion to wrap up the scoring for the dominant hosts, who were good value for the 50-10 victory.

Wolves: Stefan Ratchford; Joel Monaghan, Chris Bridge, Ryan Atkins, Rhys Evans; Lee Briers, Richie Myler; Garreth Carvell, Michael Monaghan, Adrian Morley, Trent Waterhouse, Ben Westwood, Simon Grix. Subs: Ben Harrison, Mike Cooper, Paul Wood, Chris Riley.

Broncos: Luke Dorn; Michael Robertson, David Howell, Jamie O’Callaghan, Kieran Dixon; Michael Witt, Craig Gower; Antonio Kaufusi, Chad Randall, Mark Bryant, Chris Bailey, Shane Rodney, Tony Clubb. Subs: Chris Melling, Olsi Krasniqi, Julien Rinaldi, Matt Cook.