Three things we learned: Flashy Ashton, Warrington’s destructive defence & St Helens nilled

Drew Darbyshire 07 Feb 2020 7:00 AM

Here are three talking points from Warrington’s win over St Helens in round two of the season.

Ashton has another cracker

Warrington’s experienced first-team players in Daryl Clark and Stefan Ratchford will deservedly grab the headlines from this game – but we can’t forget another stunning performance from young gun Matty Ashton.

The 21-year-old is still a very raw player, but he is dynamite when he’s got the ball in his hand. It would be interesting to see who would win a 100-metre sprint out of him and St Helens speedster Regan Grace.

Despite being young and a newcomer to the Wolves, Ashton is certainly not shy and likes to make his presence felt on Steve Price’s side. He’s constantly talking to his team-mates, which is what you want from a full-back.

Warrington’s brutal defence

St Helens have been the standout team in Super League over the last 18 months or so, and their attack is usually firing but the Wolves did tremendously well to keep them at bay.

Wire barred up their defence several times on their own line in the game, with Saints not managing to find a way to break them down and go over for a single try.

Ben Currie was first class for Warrington in defence, while Mike Cooper, Daryl Clark and Jason Clark got through a lot of work. Warrington’s defence was extremely impressive – but they just need to find consistency now.

St Helens nilled

The 19-0 scoreline saw Saints nilled for the first time since they lost 25-0 to Wigan at the DW Stadium back in August 2016.

The scoreline will be a tough pill for coach Kristian Woolf to swallow. Saints have been the best attacking team in Super League for a couple of years now – but they looked toothless near the Warrington line at stages in the game.

It seemed like Saints went away from their game plan and got roped in to playing Warrington’s game plan. It must be mentioned that the champions did it tough though, with Alex Walmsley, James Roby, Morgan Knowles, Kyle Amor and Tommy Makinson all missing.