Bradford 22-58 Warrington

Lee Briers returned to play a starring role, whilst Chris Hicks also racked up 30 points as Warrington Wolves smashed Bradford Bulls at the Grattan Stadium.

The Wolves lost both their Easter games, results that left them languishing thirteenth in the table, but Briers overcame his injury problems to help the Cheshire side to build up a 16-0 lead inside the first fifteen minutes.

And while Bradford did manage to score three tries of their own, they were let down by poor defence and discipline that left them on the back end of a 58-22 scoreline.

Tony Smith’s men took the lead after just five minutes with a simple move, Ben Westwood passing to Louis Anderson to hit a gap at speed and cross.

And it was just minutes later when Warrington extended their lead, Chris Hicks diving over in the corner, thanks to quick hands across the line.

Jon Clarke went close for the Wolves, but Hicks was on hand minutes later to add to the Bulls’ misery.

Briers was once again part of the play, spreading the ball down the Bradford left wing again, and Hicks sold Paul Sykes a beautiful step and dodged three defenders to speed over.

And the game was virtually completed after 19 minutes when Matt King latched on to a sublime Briers cross-field kick to give the away side a superb 22-0 lead.

But Bradford woke up with the introduction of David Solomona and Nick Scruton from the bench, and it was the former who gave the Bulls hope of getting back into the game.

Solomona sold the defence a massive dummy, and spun around full-back Chris Riley to power over.

The comeback was short-lived though, as Riley scored a sensational individual effort of his own.

The youngster supported Paul Johnson‘s half-break to speed down the left wing, before chipping Dave Halley with a delicious kick and catch for one of the tries of the season.

And the boos started ringing out as Warrington ran in a sixth and game ending try through Paul Johnson, as Bradford just fell apart.

But they did manage a consolation score prior to half-time through Michael Platt.

And Bradford capitulated in all forms straight from the kick-off, Rikki Sheriffe and Semi Tadulala making an horrendous set of mistakes, and Mickey Higham was on hand to ground the ball.

The Bulls hit back once again through Solomona’s second try of the game, with Sykes converting, but it just proved to be a brief spell of resilience as Warrington ran in their 8th try of the game.

Briers, converted by Hicks, added another four points to the Warrington scoreline, as they continued to run riot.

The half-century was racked up with just under a quarter of the game remaining, Chris Hicks fighting off a few defenders to score his hat-trick.

Higham grabbed his second for the tenth try for Warrington to rack up 58 points on the scoreboard, before Bradford grabbed another consolation score through Ben Jeffries to round-up matters.

Bradford: 22

T: Solomona (26, 44), Platt (39), Jeffries (72)

G: Sykes (40, 45, 73)

Warrington: 58

T: Anderson (5), Hicks (10, 15, 61), King (20), Riley (31), Johnson (35), Higham (41, 67), Briers (52).

G: Hicks (6, 15, 21, 32, 35, 42, 53, 62, 68)

Ref: T. Alibert

Att: 8,643

HT: 10-34