WOLVES SEE RED

It was 100 per cent guts and effort all the way, even after Toa Kohe-Love's disastrous first red card of his career left the Wolves facing 51 minutes of war with only 12 men.

Wigan took full advantage of having the extra player which proved to be the Wolves' undoing after promising so much in the opening 30 minutes.

After Kohe-Love's dismissal two Wigan tries in a four-minute purple patch before half-time gave them an 18-6 ascendancy which was too much of a mountain to climb while a man down.

But the Wolves did not throw in the towel in a second half which will be remembered for tempers boiling over rather than for good football.

Four separate bouts of fighting broke out during the game which concluded with the Wolves' loose forward Tawera Nikau receiving his marching orders. The incident, an ugly brawl after Nikau's tackle on man of the match Australian Dave Furner, was put on report by referee Steve Ganson.

It left Warrington two men short with a minute left but they had also been down to 11 men early in the second half.

Centre David Kidwell and Wigan back rower Mick Cassidy, two substitutes who had only been on the field for five minutes, kicked-off with each other. Wigan's Neil Cowie flew in to assist and he and Kidwell were sent to the sin bin.

Ganson appeared to be losing control and by the time the next fisticuffs broke out, following Francis Stephenson's off the ball tangle with Wolves' Danny Nutley, a stronger referee would surely have clamped down and taken sterner action at that point.

The fact that he did not gave both sides the wrong signals and the game was marred by its ugliness at the death.

Nikau's aggressive but legal lunge was not appreciated by Furner who decided to take the law into his own hands and dished out some severe treatment, for some unknown reason, to the Wolves' substitute forward Paul Noone.

How Furner, and earlier Wigan's Andy Farrell for kicking out at Kohe-Love, managed to stay on the field amazed Warrington supporters, who were fantastic in their vocal backing for the team with their endless chants and singing.

Despite conceding six tries Warrington's defence was a big improvement on last year's. Wigan's scores came as a result of their class new acts Adrian Lam and Matthew Johns making the most of their numerical advantage.

The Wolves missed few one-on-one tackles, covered for each other superbly and scrambled magnificently to save tries.

The Wolves had Wigan rattled early on. The power of the Wolves' forwards and the guile of probing scrum half Allan Langer had Wigan shell-shocked until the whole complexion of the match changed with Kohe-Love's early bath.

Back rower Dean Busby, as in the previous two games, was outstanding during the opening 20-minute period and it was a shame he had to be replaced at that point. With the Wolves being short of props due to Martin Masella's and Andrew Gee's injuries Busby was taken off so that he could be called on as a replacement prop in the second period.

With Wigan rattled Darryl Van de Velde's men created several scoring opportunities as they dominated possession and territory.

However, Warrington's only try was their quickest in Super League history, coming after only 64 seconds.

Full back Lee Briers' clearance kick was deflected to Wolves winger Rob Smyth and he had open space ahead of him. Prop Jerome Guisset and Kohe-Love continued the move before supporting Kevin Walters, much improved in this game, was hauled down.

The ball was flung wide by Langer and finally Busby to put centre Ian Sibbit over against his home town club taking his tally to four tries in three games.

Furner and Lam were penalised for holding down and Briers booted over the penalty goal from 22 metres for a seventh minute 6-0 lead.

Kohe-Love broke clear off a Steve McCurrie off-load and rather than pass to his winger Smyth he took on full back Kris Radlinski himself and was caught.

Walters' last ditch tackle stopped Radlinksi at the other end in Wigan's first threatening attack after 11 minutes.

Wigan forced a drop out and the Wolves held them out as Briers saved a two-on-one situation by doing enough to half-block hooker Terry Newton and he stumbled short of the try line.

But when McCurrie lost possession on his own 40m line Warrington's defence cracked. Lam and Newton combined twice before the Australian scrum half touched down and Andy Farrell converted to level the scores.

Four minutes later Kohe-Love was sent off for his second high tackle on opposite centre Steve Renouf within a minute, which was the first spark for Wigan players to run in, fists flying.

Wigan's performance lifted and Lam fired out a pass for Denis Betts to crash over. Furner's well-timed pass put Lam across the whitewash and both tries were converted.

Two minutes into the second period Furner slipped out a short pass for centre Paul Johnson to touch down Wigan's fourth try. Farrell tagged on the extras.

The writing appeared to be on the wall but gallant Warrington prevented Wigan from scoring for 23 minutes.

Wigan's fifth try came through winger David Hodgson after Nikau spilled the ball on his own 40m line.

Renouf regathered a deflected kick off Briers for a lucky final try.