Warrington reclaim top spot
Warrington haved leapfrogged Hull FC to move to the top of the table after pulling off a dramatic 22-26 victory against the Catalans Dragons at the Stade Gilbert Brutus.
The Wolves were the first on the scoreboard, Declan Patton touching down after Toby King was allowed to breeze through the Catalans line out of dummy-half.
Kevin Penny rounded off a 70-metre run by dashing over after Richie Myler’s kick was intercepted by Stefan Ratchford. Patton nailed the conversion to give the Wolves a 0-12 lead.
Remi Casty looked certain to touch down and reduce the deficit before the interval but Jack Johnson had other ideas, stripping the ball from the French international a metre from the whitewash.
That proved even more pivotal after Patton went up the other end and rounded off a brilliant passing move by the Wolves to give visitors an 0-18 lead going into the break.
Vincent Duport registered Catalans’ first try of the game, crashing over after Richie Myler’s offload. Tony Gigot nailed the coversion to leave the Dragons 12 points behind their opponents.
The Dragons continued their good start to the second half, Myler adding his name to the scoresheet following Eloi Pelissier’s pass out of dummy half.
A Patton penalty ensured Warrington’s two-score buffer was restored.
The game was poised for a dramatic finish when Benjamin Garcia capitalized on Ryan Atkins’ mistake to cross over before Gigot added the extras to leave the Dragons just two points behind.
Jodie Broughton thought he had crossed over less than a minute before but the try was controversially disallowed after Fouad Yaha was adjudged to have been tackled before his offload.
Gigot completed the comeback, kicking a penalty to level the scores at 20-20 with eight minutes left.
The Wolves continued to show a lack of discipline in the latter stages, conceding another penalty, which Gigot kicked between the posts to put the Dragons in front with just five minutes left.
But Ben Currie popped up with a late try in the 77th minute to put the Wolves back in front and send the Warrington fans home with something to cheer about.
