Warrington Wolves 12 St Helens 48.

WOLVES suffered a heavy home defeat against world club champions St Helens on Friday night.

Saints took the lead in controversial circumstances in the 14th minute when Matt Gidley - the first to reach Sean Long's grubber - did not appear to have full control as he touched down.

But the try was given by the video referee and Saints scored again 12 minutes later as Leon Pryce's kick caused chaos, leading to Nick Fozzard and Gidley putting Ade Gardner over for a try that Long converted.

Gidley then scored another converted in a move that seemed to include a forward pass from Francis Meli but Wolves hit back to only trail 16-12 at half time.

Lee Briers darted past Leon Pryce from a tap penalty for the first try, which he converted himself after video replays appeared to show the skipper had not tapped the ball correctly.

Briers then kicked through for Henry Fa'afili to touch down after Wolves had valiantly kept the ball alive on the final play of the half.

But St Helens scored again four minutes after the restart when Meli burrowed over from dummy half and went further in front 10 minutes later as Keiron Cunningham handed Gidley his hat-trick try.

Cunningham and Long then combined to put Mike Bennett over for a converted try to make it 30-12 with 20 minutes remaining.

Wolves lost half backs Lee Briers and Chris Bridge to respective hamstring and groin injuries in the 67th minute and struggled on with Michael Sullivan and Vinnie Anderson in the halves.

But Leon Pryce ran the length of the field after Jon Clarke and Anderson had catastrophically collided as they both moved into the dummy half position at a Wolves play-the-ball, with the same man adding another try before offloading for Paul Wellens to complete the scoring.