Saints edge thriller in Warrington

28 Jun 2019

Warrington Wolves 10-21 St Helens

Warrington Wolves 21-10 St Helens

St Helens put one one hand on the league leaders’ shield after claiming a 21-10 victory in a pulsating Betfred Super League clash against nearest rivals Warrington Wolves at the Halliwell Jones stadium.

The win sees Saints move eight points clear of the Wolves at the top of the table with just nine games remaining and it would take an almighty collapse by Justin Holbrook’s side to stop them finishing top of the pile in 2019.

The game between Super League’s top two lived up to all expectations with both throwing everything into the game in an intense 80 minutes of breathless action.

Saints trailed 6-0 early in the second half but tries from Mark Percival, Luke Thompson and Alex Walmsley and four goals and a drop goal from Lachlan Coote saw the visitors to victory.

Warrington’s points came from a Jake Mamo try and three goals from Declan Patton.

Warrington opted not to give a debut to rugby union convert Luther Burrell and made two changes to the side that defeated Wakefield Trinity seven days previous as Tom Lineham returned on the win after his three-game suspension for Jack Johnson and Lama Tasi replaced the injured Ben Murdoch-Masila.

St Helens were without the injured Zeb Taia from the side that defeated Leeds Rhinos and Matty Ashworth also dropped out and were replaced by Morgan Knowles and Joseph Paulo.

St Helens coach Justin Holbrook said: "It was as good as it can get for me. It was the toughest game I’ve been involved in that’s for sure.

“Warrington didn’t give an inch and I was extremely proud of my side to do the same.

“You are never going to get many opportunities in those kind of games and I’m extremely proud to finish the game like we did."

Warrington coach Steve Price said: "It was a tough game, it was one v two and I thought it was a quality game of football.

“We had to be at our best to beat them and just came up short in a couple of areas."