IT was only right that in the highly successful Wire era of 1947 to 1955 that the club's stars should figure on the international scene.

Prop Jimmy Featherstone and second rower Bob Ryan made the Great Britain tour Down Under in 1950 to become the club's ninth and 10th tourists.

They returned to enjoy a fine 1950/51 season with Warrington, who finished the year as Lancashire League winners, Lancashire Cup runners-up and Championship runners-up.

Second rower Harry Bath gave up his captaincy part way through the season because he felt the extra responsibilities had affected his game. Bryn Knowelden took over and ironically the team lost at Workington, only their third defeat in 20 games.

A record 42,541 supporters at Swinton saw Warrington lose the Lancashire Cup final to Wigan 28-5.

Warrington paid their third visit in four years to Manchester City's Maine Road to face Workington in the Championship final. Despite leading 8-3 at half-time, Wire went down 26-11.

A big change for the club came in 1951 when manager Chris Brockbank ended 15 years at the helm to take up a hotel business in Blackpool.

The man who came in to replace him was New Zealander Ces Mountford. He was introduced to the shareholders at the club's Annual Meeting held at the Co-op Hall, Cairo Street. Mountford, a regular in the Wigan team, accepted a 10-year contract as manager/coach and after some obstruction from Central Park chiefs he was eventually allowed to play for the club too.

Another newcomer to the club during the season was Eric Fraser, the club's fifth full back on the books at that time. The 20-year-old joined from St Helens Junior Club and in later years was to become a Great Britain World Cup hero.

And there was a new chairman too in F. W. Davies, who took over from P. F. Ward.

Some things never changed that season wing sensation Brian Bevan kept on scoring. In what turned out to be a disappointing 1951/52 campaign compared to previous years the Australian flyer, eventually to become the world record try scorer, crossed for 46 touch downs.

He was also proving to Australia why he was worth an international spot too. He scored two tries for Other Nationalities against Wales, one for the British Empire side against the touring Kiwis at Chelsea and then two for Other Nationalities against England.