Warrington Wolves talking points after beating London Broncos

However, as Sam Burgess himself said, they will have left London knowing that they have plenty to ponder and improve upon after eventually seeing off London Broncos.

Their 36-22 victory in Round 21 allowed The Wire to stay in touch with the top two ahead of Magic Weekend next week as they bounced back from losing to Hull KR last time out.

Here, our Wire reporter Matt Turner picks out five key post-match talking points from the game...

A bullet dodged

As Sam Burgess himself said post-match, Warrington can take the two points back north with them - but probably not much else.

They also appeared to come out unscathed in terms of fresh injury concerns but beyond that, things to take forward are pretty thin on the ground.

They do deserve credit for coming through to win via a decent margin while scoring a not insignificant number of points despite being comfortably below their best in sweltering conditions, but they will know they need to be so much better.

Credit too has to go to London, who were far removed from the side hammered twice in as many weeks by Warrington in April.

They were more physical and willing to move the ball and for a couple of minutes at least, they set primrose and blue nerves jangling.

All in all, Warrington Wolves very much dodged a bullet by avoiding capital punishment.

Matty Ashton is congratulated by Arron Lindop and John Bateman (Image: Neil Ashurst/P&B Pictures)

Defensive concerns

While mitigation can be found in this being a much-changed Wire outfit - particularly on the right edge where there were new combinations aplenty - Burgess will probably be most concerned with what his side dished up off the ball.

And that will not be limited to the 22 points they conceded to a London side who, despite the adventure they showed in possession, have struggled to score points. Indeed, they have only exceeded this number of points in a match twice this season.

The tries in themselves were soft and had London been less wasteful with the three glorious opportunities they created in the first half, there may have been more damage.

When tracing them back, however, the coaching staff would find attempts to control where London kicked the ball from hampered by the concession of cheap penalties.

The players they can bring back in will aid things, but there is certainly plenty to ponder.

Ugo Tison's try briefly brought London back to within six points of Wire and set up a nervy finish (Image: SWPix.com)

Williams’ importance underlined

Pointing out attacking deficiencies after scoring 36 points may seem like nit-picking, but they were certainly not at their razor-sharp best with the ball.

Again, the personnel they had missing certainly hindered them in that respect - none more so than George Williams.

While they still had enough to prise open the competition's leakiest defence in his absence, a better calibre of opposition would have had little trouble dealing with the majority of what Wire threw at the Broncos.

Whether this was a case of putting their star man in bubble wrap or that there is a more concerning fitness issue - Burgess insisted his absence was a case of the former - this performance merely underlined how crucial Williams is to this Warrington team.

Wire still managed to score 36 points - including this Rodrick Tai try - in George Williams' absence (Image: SWPix.com)

Vintage Matty Ashton

The winger was comfortably up there with Wire's best on the day, with his contributions turning out to be crucial.

The trademark interception effort he scored in the first half was more than just opportunism - he read Ethan Natoli's intentions like a book and had the wherewithal to bat the ball upwards, giving him time to catch and race away.

Had the ball passed him by, the Broncos had a walk-in - as their head coach Mike Eccles said post-match, it was a 12-point play.

Another show of speed and strength set up Toby King just before half time and when the centre returned the favour for him to burst through the middle and supply the coup de grace, it put the cap on a vintage display as well as taking him to 100 career tries.

Matty Ashton celebrates his last-minute try (Image: Neil Ashurst/P&B Pictures)

Much bigger tests to come

This game served a purpose for The Wire in that it got them back to winning ways and kept them in touch with Wigan and Hull KR above them.

The race for the top two is very much alive, but they have some much stiffer tests to come.

Leeds Rhinos at Elland Road in front of what is likely to be a partisan Magic Weekend crowd effectively constitutes another away fixture and having hammered Wigan on Saturday, the Rhinos will be heading across town buoyant.

It is the first of six games remaining, and the margin for error remains very small.

Jordy Crowther celebrates the victory at full time (Image: SWPix.com)