WARRINGTON Wolves’ dominating start to their Challenge Cup defence was marred by a season-threatening injury to loose forward Ben Harrison, who was carried off after 10 minutes of the 80-0 demolition of Keighley Cougars at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Wolves boss Tony Smith said: “Ben Harrison has been taken to hospital for an x-ray, the results of which we are yet to hear.

“We think he has fractured his tibia, but we are not sure and will have to see how the tests come out.”

It was an unpleasant aftertaste to what had been a delectable showing of rugby league, with Wolves’ attacking prowess demonstrated to the full in front of the 6,583-strong crowd.

But Smith still had plenty to be happy about after the game, not least the determination of his side to keep the visitors pinned down in their own half.

“Apart from Benny and the rain, not much put a dampener on that game for us,” he said.

“I thought it was a very good performance and a great show of discipline from my team.

“I have to say I was impressed by Keighley and despite the result I thought they showed great discipline and showed some qualities that us coaching nerds look out for in a good team.

“I went into their dressing room after the game to tell them how impressed I was and if they stick with what they were doing in the weeks ahead, they will trouble a lot of teams in their division.

“When my team gets on a roll like that, they can do that to teams in our own division, so Keighley needn’t read too much into that result and just keep doing what they did today.”

Gareth O’Brien put in a scoring debut, showing glimpses of excellent play and combining well with Lee Briers to run the show for Warrington.

But he and all of the other players on the pitch were playing in the shadow of the Welsh wizard, who controlled the game throughout and got the nod from his coach as the most impressive player on the pitch.

Smith said: “Gareth was very good on his debut; I thought he combined well with Lee and though it was the ‘Lee Briers show’ he managed to get his name alongside at times.

“But Lee was terrific.

“He controlled the show and showed great discipline, which was the name of the game for us today.

“They were waiting for us to make some errors and that just wasn’t going to happen for us today, even in the conditions, which was great to see.”

Wolves also learnt their fate for the next round of the Challenge Cup, as they were drawn to face Swinton at home in the fifth round, with the match to take place on the weekend of the 21st and 22nd of May.