St Helens 28-2 Warrington: Champions Saints maintain perfect start

Tommy Makinson scored two tries as champions St Helens maintained their 100% start to the Super League season with a 28-2 derby win over Warrington.

Makinson followed up his hat-trick against Hull KR a week earlier with a try in each half to take his total for the club to 154 in 267 appearances. Saints showed why they are perfectly placed to secure an unprecedented fourth successive Grand Final triumph.

Kristian Woolf’s men look to be in a league of their own after the first five rounds of the campaign. Even a much-improved performance from the Wolves could not put a dent into their self-belief.

Fresh from a home defeat by Grand Final runners-up Catalans Dragons, Warrington produced some of their best rugby of the season in the opening quarter. But they were unable to penetrate their opponents’ tight-knit defence.

Daryl Powell’s men, who won on their last visit to the Totally Wicked Stadium last June, had youngster Josh Thewlis on the wing in the absence of leading try-scorer Josh Charnley, who began a two-match ban. Will Hopoate was in his more familiar centre spot for Saints in the absence of the suspended Konrad Hurrell.

Match report

Stung by criticism from Powell over their lacklustre performance against the Dragons, the Wolves matched the champions toe for toe in the opening stages. Warrington took the lead with a penalty from Stefan Ratchford on the 400th appearance of his career.

Saints were then reduced to 12 men on 15 minutes when second-rower Sione Mata’utia, going up against brother Peter, was sin-binned for a high and late tackle on Warrington stand-off George Williams, who was also shown a yellow card seven minutes later for persistent offside by his team.

Makinson’s penalty levelled the scores. The home side went in front on 23 minutes when full-back Jack Welsby won the race to stand-off Jonny Lomax’s perfectly-judged grubber kick to the corner.

Makinson added the touchline conversion and he got on the end of a pass from his centre Mark Percival to score his side’s second try eight minutes before half-time. He extended their lead to 12-2.

Williams was still off the field by then. The visitors clearly missed his tactical kicking, which had done so much to cause Saints those early problems.

The Wolves also suffered a blow with hooker Daryl Clark going off with a shoulder injury, while prop Rob Mulhern failed a head injury assessment, but they continued to keep the champions honest.

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HT: St Helens 12-2 Warrington Wolves

Welsby pulled off a crunching tackle to halt winger Matty Ashton in full flight and Percival managed to haul down second-rower Oliver Holmes just short of the line as Saints worked overtime to keep their line intact.

There was no way back for the visitors when Makinson gathered in Welsby’s cut-out pass to score his second try on 53 minutes and he would have completed another hat-trick but for a fumble on the Warrington line.

St Helens were in cruise control by then and they added further tries through Percival, who scored directly from a scrum, and Lomax, who pounced on an error 30 metres out from the Warrington line, with Lewis Dodd adding both conversions.

FT: St Helens 28-2 Warrington Wolves

St Helens: Welsby; Simm, Hopoate, Percival, Makinson; Lomax, Dodd; Walmsley, Roby, Lees, Mata’utia, Batchelor, Knowles. Subs: Lussick, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Sironen, Paasi.

Tries: Welsby, Makinson, Percival, Lomax Goals: Makinson 2, Dodd 2

Warrington: Ratchford; Thewlis, Mata’utia, King, Ashton; Widdop, Williams; Bullock, D Clark, Cooper, Currie, Holmes, Hughes. Subs: Philbin, J Clark, Walker, Mulhern.

Tries: Goals: Ratchford 1

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