Sam Burgess continued his impressive start as a Super League head coach after his Warrington Wolves side registered a third consecutive win with a victory at Hull Kingston Rovers to move joint-top of the early league table.
Both the Wolves and Rovers will fancy their chances of being in the mix to reach the Grand Final this season but it was Burgess’s men who came out on top of an absorbing and engrossing affair here, on a night when the lead changed hands no fewer than five times. Inspired by brilliant individual displays from maverick full-back Matt Dufty and teenage half-back Leon Hayes, Dufty’s try with nine minutes remaining proved to be the difference.
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It means that after defeat at Catalans Dragons on the opening weekend, Burgess has led Warrington to three straight wins. Rovers started the season with two wins but have now lost back-to-back games, and they will rue missed conversion attempts in both of their second-half tries.
The first half was a see-saw affair with both sides holding the lead at different stages and by half-time, just like at full time, only wayward goal-kicking was the difference. Rovers began the brighter of the two sides but an error from the hosts afforded Warrington their first attacking opportunity, and they duly obliged when Dufty’s inch-perfect pass enabled the England captain, George Williams, to cut through on the angle and make it 6-0.
Seven minutes later, they went further ahead when a superb kick from Hayes punctured the Hull KR line, with Matty Ashton collecting under pressure to ground and extend the visitors’ lead to 10. However, Rovers soon settled into a rhythm once again and after a towering kick from Mikey Lewis was collected expertly by Tyrone May, they went ahead in magnificent fashion.
Lewis was again influential, timing his pass to Oliver Gildart to perfection before the centre released a stupendous offload to free Ryan Hall. Jez Litten converted both and the hosts were ahead by two. They could, and arguably should, have gone further ahead but James Batchelor dropped the ball in the act of scoring and that swung the momentum back Warrington’s way as half-time approached.
And Burgess’s side once again took advantage. They went back ahead when another free-flowing move with Hayes at the heart of it enabled Lachlan Fitzgibbon to send Toby King across and move the visitors back in front by two. Then, on the stroke of half-time, Dufty broke downfield and kicked ahead for Connor Wrench, who finished expertly to extend Warrington’s lead.
The one downside for Warrington was that while Litten kicked both of his conversion attempts for Rovers, Josh Thewlis and Hayes could convert only one of the Wolves’ four, meaning that their six-point lead could have been far bigger. And as the game approached the hour mark, that proved significant as the hosts once again responded with real gusto. The opening stages of the second half were slightly cagier but two tries in three minutes sprung Rovers into life.
First, Hall and Gildart combined brilliantly once again, this time sending the latter in for a try before a looping pass from May found Tom Opacic unmarked in the corner. However, Batchelor missed both touchline conversions with Litten off the field, and while those tries did put Hull KR back ahead, it meant they led by only two. And as the game entered the final 10 minutes, Warrington once again responded to turn the contest on its head.
It was Dufty again who was instrumental and this time he was the scorer after finishing a superb set move direct from a scrum but once again, the conversion was missed, this time by Hayes, meaning Warrington’s advantage was just two points with seven minutes remaining. And despite one or two late nervous moments for the Wolves, they did enough to hang on and continue their impressive start under Burgess.