Warrington 112-0 Swinton

Records tumbled at the Halliwell Jones Stadium as ruthless Warrington blasted through to the sixth round of the Carnegie Challenge Cup.

From 84 seconds in, when the Wolves opened the score through Joel Monaghan from a Lee Briers crossfield kick to the last minute when Chris Riley swept in for his hat-trick, Warrington were in complete command and eventually totalled twenty tries.

The Wolves posted their record victory and biggest winning margin while Briers crowned a memorable night by claiming three personal records. His forty-four points was a record in a game from a Warrington player, while his 16 goals also set a new mark and he also went on to overtake Steve Hesford as the top Warrington points scorer of all time.

Briers claimed the second try after five minutes with an individual shimmy and when Ryan Atkins swept past Gavin Dodd on the way to a handsome fifty metre try, the writing was on the wall for brave Swinton Lions for whom Dale Cunniffe was outstanding in an outgunned forward pack.

Although Warrington lost boom halfback Gareth O’Brien after 17 minutes when he had to be carried from the field on a stretcher following a crunching Phil Joseph tackle, they stepped up the pressure to run in four tries in nine minutes through Joel Monaghan, Garreth Carvell (two) and Simon Grix with Briers making it 38-0 after just 28 minutes. At the other end an angled Ian Mort kick trickled dead ahead of Dodd and former Salford wing Rob Foxen.

The tide continued to flow against Swinton when Joel Monaghan claimed his hat-trick before the Lions threatened. Cunniffe, playing against his hometown club forced his way to the ten metre line before Dana Wilson was somehow held up by three defenders. Although Ian Watson and halfback Martin Ainscough worked the ball down the right, Mort spilled the ball and Swinton conceded a penalty.

After driving to the Lions forty metre line, a try of real craft, vision and pace followed when Michael Monaghan jumped from the play-the-ball, dummied to force two players to shoot out of the defence before the hooker pinned back his ears and just got on the outside of Mort to go over at the corner for Briers to add his fifth goal and make it 48-0 at half-time.

The second-half began with Swinton winning the ball back from a Watson restart but they could not force their way through a blanket defence and when Michael Monaghan slid a clever kick over the line at the side of the posts, Briers reacted quickest to touch down.

The Wolves followed that with a long break downfield before the Swinton defence was stretched again for Briers to cut inside and race over from 20 metres to claim his hat-trick. Warrington were simply irrisistable and Chris Riley and Ben Westwood got further scores to crown another scoring blitz of four tries in seven devastating minutes.

When Rhys williams pinned his ears back to zoom clear from 35 metres, the Wolves had claimed fourteen tries in just 54 minutes. Westwood then nabbed his second with Briers converting his seventh goal in succession before Matty Blythe unselfishly put Joel Monaghan over for his fourth try.

Another dazzling spell of four tries in the final eleven minutes took the score from 88-0 to an eventual 112-0.

Riley made it 94-0 before Bridge raced over on the right for Briers to bring up the century and Carvell added to the party atmosphere with a determined break and dive for his hat-trick before Riley completed matters with his treble try, taking an inside pass from Atkins before Briers brought his unforgettable night to a close with the final conversion from beneath the posts.

WARRINGTON: Chris Riley, Joel Monaghan, Chris Bridge, Ryan Atkins, Rhys Williams; Gareth O’Brien, Lee Briers; Adrian Morley, Michael Monaghan, Garreth Carvell, Matt King, Ben Westwood, Simon Grix. Subs: Jon Clarke, Mike Cooper, Matty Blythe, David Solomona.

Tries: Joel Monaghan (2, 19, 32, 63), Briers (5, 43, 46), Atkins (11), Carvell (23, 26, 78), Grix (28), Michael Monaghan (39), Riley (48, 70, 80), Westwood (50, 58), Williams (54), Bridge (75).
Goals: Briers 16/20.

SWINTON: Ian Mort, Richard Flooks, Alex Hurst, Gavin Dodd, Rob Foxen; Martin Ainscough, Ian Watson; Mike Morrison, Mark Smith, Neil Holland, Dale Cunniffe, Darren Hawkyard, Phil Joseph. Subs: Karl Ashall, Dana Wilson, Danny Meekin, Tommy Gallagher.

Tries: None.
Goals: None.

Referee: Mr Tim Roby.
Attendance: 4,440.
Half-time: 48-0.