Saints 26-14 Wires
The Wolves lost their SLXIV opener away to local rivals Saint Helens, 26-14. In what was a tight first half, the Wolves were probably the better team, leading 8-0 at half time. The Saints seemed more up for it in the second period however, and the Wolves crumbled once again under the pressure. Although getting the first try after the break, the Wolves then conceded 26 unanswered points. The game was deadlocked until Chris Hicks slotted over a penalty just after the half hour mark after a high tackle on big prop forward Paul Rauhihi. A few minutes later, new signing Micky Higham struck the first try for the club, against one of his former clubs, although it was dubious. It appeared that as Louis Anderson played the ball, the ball rolled forward. But referee Ian Smith gave the try, to the dislike of the Saints crowd. Into the second half, and Michael Monaghan threw an inside ball to Riley, who superbly offloaded to Rauhihi to score a try in front of the Warrington faithful. Then it fell apart, again. Saints turned up the heat and Warrington couldn't handle it. Tries from Ade Gardner, Matt Gidley (2), James Graham, Lee Gilmour and Tom Armstrong sealed another win for Saints over their rivals Warrington.
Wires 20-40 Catalan
Warrington were humiliated 40-20 at home by the Catalan Dragons. Things started badly for the Wolves, when Gregory Mounis scored early on after the video ref deemed him to have grounded the ball in play. After this, Dane Carlaw had to be stretchered off after a high tackle from Ben Westwood, and play was stopped for 7 minutes, Westwood was placed on report for this. But, although the Wolves were behind, they were desperate to Pull points back, and they did through recently criticised Matt King, getting a stroll into the corner. Following this, Garreth Carvell Went over from close range for a try on his home debut, which he was delighted by. Then, Chris Hicks went in for an impressive try in the corner, showing good hands from Vinnie Anderson and Martin Gleeson. Hicks then kicked a penalty to make it 18-6. Then, a moment of controversy when Chris Riley caught the ball on the full, ran forward and Dimitri Pelo caught him with his arm on the neck, a tackle which most of the Warrington faithful thought was worthy of a red card. But referee J Robinson decided just to give the penalty, with no sin binning, and the incident was not placed on report, much to the anger of the crowd. Then, just before half time, Olivier Elima scored a converted try to make the half time score 18-12. The second half began as the first ended, with Catalan scoring a try through Clint Greenshields, dancing his way through the defence. David Ferriol was then sin binned for the Dragons, and Hicks added another 2 points for the Wolves. But this sin binning didn't stop the Dragons, as Shane Perry Sent Clint Greenshields over for his second of the game. Then, in a crazy 7-minute spell for the Wolves, the Dragons crossed 3 times through Cyril Stacul, Jean-Phillipe Baille and Dimitri Pelo. The Dragons also kicked a late penalty to give Bosc 12 points from a possible 16. These 7 tries conceded means that the Wolves now have a points difference of Minus 32 after just 2 games.
