Wolves push Saints to the wire despite penalty issues

"IF we give 12 penalties away against Saints it will be game over, we won't have a chance."

They were the words of Lee Briers prior to Wolves attempting to gain their first win against the world club champions in 20 attempts.

The fact that Wolves conceded 12 penalties ultimately led to a 14th year of returning home from Knowsley Road with nothing to show for a valiant effort.

Wolves failed to get to grips with the issue throughout the 80 minutes, with three successive misdemeanours leading to James Roby putting Saints ahead early on and then two on the trot helping the home side to effectively win the game with Ste Tyrer's try in the 75th minute.

But with Kevin Penny touching down and Warrington still being in the hunt for the two points until the final whistle - despite all the indiscipline - it highlights there were many strong elements to Wolves' performance.

St Helens were missing five men but they did have all week to plan for the game without them in contrast to the disruption that Paul Cullen's troops had to overcome in the opening minutes.

Wolves, who went into the game without Stuart Reardon and Paul Wood, had to reorganise when Chris Bridge left the field with a ruptured Achilles, while Matt King was limping from the 50th second onwards with calf trouble.

Chris Hicks, who went on to save two certain tries in an impressive display, switched to full back with Paul Johnson taking on the right wing berth and forward Andy Bracek replacing centre King in the 35th minute.

Despite the injury setbacks, positional shuffling and consequent changes to the substitution plans, Wolves defended superbly in the first half to restrict Saints to eight points while amassing 14 of their own with some cracking forward play from Paul Rauhihi and Adrian Morley together with some clinical distribution from Briers leading to tries for himself, Martin Gleeson and Chris Hicks.

Saints regrouped at half time and took advantage of the inexperienced Bracek-Penny combination with three right-sided tries in six minutes.

In-form Vinnie Anderson was switched from the pack to successfully shore up the left centre spot and a fine try from Johnson kept the game in the balance at 22-18.

Wolves then needed to hold their nerve and keep cool heads but the rising penalty and error counts indicated that was not the case and they paid the price.

STATS AGAINST SAINTS.

The Wilderspool years.

1996.

Wolves 24 Saints 25.

Saints 66 Wolves 14.

1997.

Saints 60 Wolves 16.

Wolves 20 Saints 22.

1998.

Saints 35 Wolves 22 (Cup).

Saints 36 Wolves 14*.

Wolves 18 Saints 48.

1999.

Saints 57 Wolves 20.

Wolves 12 Saints 35.

2000.

Wolves 34 Saints 47.

Saints 50 Wolves 20.

Saints 58 Wolves 18.

2001.

Wolves 56 Saints 22.

Saints 70 Wolves 16.

Wolves 28 Saints 28.

2002.

Wolves 14 Saints 36 (Cup).

Wolves 36 Saints 44.

Saints 72 Wolves 2.

2003.

Saints 56 Wolves 6.

Wolves 30 Saints 30.

The Halliwell Jones years.

2004.

Wolves 20 Saints 50.

Saints 28 Wolves 8.

2005.

Wolves 16 Saints 18.

Saints 31 Wolves 30.

Wolves 10 Saints 30.

2006.

Wolves 10 Saints 18.

Saints 34 Wolves 22.

Wolves 30 Saints 38.

2007.

Wolves 12 Saints 48.

Wolves 12 Saints 40.

Saints 25 Wolves 14 (Cup).

Saints 36 Wolves 16.

*Played at Anfield.

Home record P17, W1, L14, Dr2, F382, A579.

Away record P15, W0, L15, Dr0, F238, A714.

Last Warrington team to defeat Saints away, 21-11, January 16, 1994: Lee Penny; Mark Forster, Allan Bateman, Jonathan Davies, Rob Myler; Kevin Ellis, Greg Mackey; Gary Chambers, John Thursfield, Rowland Phillips, Paul Darbyshire, Mike Gregory, Kelly Shelford. Subs: Dave Elliott, Mark Hilton.

MATCH FACTS.

engage Super League Round Two, February 15, 2008.

St Helens 30 Warrington Wolves 22.

Saints: Paul Wellens; Ade Gardner (2t), Matt Gidley, Ste Tyrer (1t, 3g), Francis Meli (1t); Leon Pryce, Sean Long; Nick Fozzard, James Roby (1t), James Graham, Lee Gilmour, Mike Bennett, Chris Flannery. Subs used: Keiron Cunningham, Bryn Hargreaves, Paul Clough (1t), Gareth Frodsham.

Wolves: Chris Bridge; Chris Hicks (1t), Martin Gleeson (1t), Matt King, Kevin Penny (1t); Lee Briers (1t, 1g), Michael Monaghan; Adrian Morley, Jon Clarke, Paul Rauhihi, Louis Anderson, Ben Westwood, Vinnie Anderson. Subs used: Mark Gleeson, Rob Parker, Paul Johnson (1t), Andy Bracek.

Referee: Richard Silverwood.

Scoring: Roby burrows over from dummy half after three successive penalties, 5mins, Tyrer adds the goal, 6-0; Briers finds Martin Gleeson who flips out reverse pass for Hicks to cross, 9mins, 6-4; Westwood commits high tackle on Wellens and Tyrer lands penalty from close range, 27mins, 8-4; Briers crabs to the right and picks out Martin Gleeson's run with a snap pass, 38mins, 8-8; Briers dummies past Cunningham after two tap penalties, 40+mins, Briers converts, 8-14; Gidley's fast hands allow Gardner to get on the outside of Penny, 42mins, 12-14; Gidley stands up in Louis Anderson tackle and offloads for Clough to dive over, 45mins, 16-14; Cunningham's long forward pass sends Gardner past Penny and over the whitewash, 48mins, 20-14; Westwood is pulled up for interference and Tyrer kicks the penalty, 51mins, 22-14; Johnson collects Briers' long pass and holds off Meli to squeeze over, 68mins, 22-18; Tyrer accepts Pryce feed and makes Wolves pay for successive penalties, 75mins, 26-18; Louis Anderson's powerful burst and offload puts Penny over, 79mins, 26-22; Wolves knock on in successive sets before Meli touches down with a stretch out of attempted tackles by Martin Gleeson and Westwood, 84mins, 30-22.

Pens: Saints 12 Wolves 11.

Scrums: Saints 3 Wolves 4.

Attendance: 13,396.

Warrington Guardian top men: Rauhihi 3pts, Hicks 2pts, Vinnie Anderson 1pt.

Interesting note: Only the second try Briers has scored in 11 years of visits to his hometown club.