BIZARRELY, the absence of injured playmakers Lee Briers and Chris Bridge may have worked in Wolves' favour as they grabbed their fourth win from six outings in engage Super League XII.

Regular hooker Jon Clarke made his first start in the half backs for three years and loose forward Vinnie Anderson appeared at stand off for the club for the first time, leaving in-form Hull Kingston Rovers not knowing quite what to expect.

Besides that, the Robins also had to contend with the manner in which Adrian Morley's Great Britain qualities would be utilised on his home debut after missing four matches with a fractured eye socket.

But Justin Morgan's confident promoted side, with four wins from five games under their belt, soon found out that there is life for Wolves without Briers at the heart of their creativity department.

A sound kicking game from two-try Clarke kept the red and whites on the back foot and he also helped to marshal a left-side attack that created the first two tries of Paul Johnson's Wolves career, while Anderson's vast experience and know-how enabled him to adapt to link-up play with the dangerous Martin Gleeson and add further physical presence to the right side of defence.

Unfortunately, unlucky Morley's home debut lasted only 17 minutes due to suffering a fracture to his cheekbone but Wolves did not let the setback spoil their rhythm.

Wolves' other players, all disappointed with the previous week's hammering by St Helens, seemed to be spurred on with the belief in Clarke's and Anderson's abilities in the halves and responded magnificently.

The forwards were soon on top and the side quickly adapted to the reshuffle brought about by Morley's early departure, with winger Henry Fa'afili playing well in the second row and back rower Ben Westwood impressing at prop and scoring his 50th try for the club.

Players were willing to take on extra responsibilities, which was also clearly shown in Michael Sullivan and Westwood kicking their first conversions for the club, with Clarke slotting over only his second.

Wolves confidently built a 16-0 cushion on the back of outstanding dummy half work from Sullivan and Mark Gleeson, with Rovers never looking likely to claw back while the home defence was in such solid shape and try-saving tackles were pulled off by Mark Gleeson and Stuart Reardon.

Four wins from six has to be considered a good start after all the injuries and a tough opening fixture programme.

Match facts.

engage Super League XII Round Six, March 18, 2007.

Warrington Wolves 30 Hull KR 12.

Wolves: Stuart Reardon; Henry Fa'afili (1t), Martin Gleeson, Paul Johnson (2t), Brent Grose; Vinnie Anderson, Jon Clarke (2t, 1g); Paul Rauhihi, Michael Sullivan (1g), Chris Leikvoll, Ben Westwood (1t, 1g), Adrian Morley, Mike Wainwright. Subs used: Richie Barnett, Mark Gleeson, Rob Parker, Paul Wood.

Rovers: Ben Cockayne; Luke Dyer, Gareth Morton (2g), Jon Goddard, Byron Ford (1t); Scott Murrell, James Webster; Makali Aizue, Ben Fisher, Mick Vella, Jason Netherton (1t), Chris Chester, Tommy Gallagher. Subs used: Jim Gannon, David Tangata-Toa, Stanley Gene.

Referee: Ian Smith Scoring: Martin Gleeson skips past Goddard and puts Fa'afili across the whitewash for the fourth time in three games, 7mins, Sullivan converts from the touchline, 6-0; Clarke and Martin Gleeson combine on the left to send Johnson over, 27mins, 10-0; Mark Gleeson breaks free and Anderson offloads for Westwood to walk over, 33mins, Westwood adds the extras, 16-0; Webster feeds Netherton to touch down with a stretch out of Reardon's tackle, 39mins, Morton goals, 16-6; Clarke provides the final pass for Johnson to plough over, 42mins, 20-6; Wainwright scoops up Fa'afili's deflected offload and hands Clarke a clear run to the line, 54mins, Clarke hits the target, 26-6; Johnson is held inches short of the line but Clarke barges over from the quick play-the-ball, 63mins, 30-6; Wainwright offloads to Rovers who score in the same set courtesy of Ford, 79mins, Morton finds the mark, 30-12.

Pens: Wolves 7 Rovers 10 Scrums: Wolves 3 Rovers 5 Attendance: 10,030 Warrington Guardian top men: Clarke 3pts, Mark Gleeson 2pts, Westwood 1pt.

Interesting note: It was the first time since 1996 that three Wolves marksmen have successfully kicked conversions in one match.