St Helens 28 – 2 Warrington

Defending champions St Helens beat Warrington Wolves; Wakefield Trinity defeated Toulouse Olympique and Hull Kingston Rovers beat Salford Red Devils in Friday night’s Super League

Reigning champions St Helens brushed aside Warrington Wolves 28-2 to maintain their 100% Super League start to the season.

In-form England winger Tommy Makinson continued his hat-trick against Hull KR a week earlier with a try in each half to take his tally for the club to 154 from 267 appearances as the Saints showed why they are perfectly placed to secure an unprecedented fourth. successive triumph in the Grand Final.

Kristian Woolf’s men look to be in a league of their own after the opening five rounds of the campaign and even a much improved performance from Wolves couldn’t shake their confidence.

After a home loss to Grand Final runners-up Catalans Dragons, Warrington produced some of their best rugby of the season in the first quarter but were unable to penetrate their opponents’ tight defense .

Daryl Powell’s men, who won when they last visited the Totally Wicked stadium last June, had youngster Josh Thewlis on the wing in the absence of top try scorer Josh Charnley, who has started a ban from two matches, while Will Hopoate was in his more familiar central place for the Saints in the absence of the suspended Konrad Hurrell.

Stung by Powell’s criticism of their lackluster performance against the Dragons, Wolves tied the champions foot to foot in the early stages and took the lead with a Stefan Ratchford penalty in the 400th appearance of his career.

The Saints were then reduced to 12 men within 15 minutes when second rower Sione Mata’utia, facing his brother Peter, was booked for a late high tackle on Warrington’s standoff George Williams, who also received a yellow card. seven minutes later for his team’s persistent offside.

Tommy Makinson scored a try in each half as St Helens claimed the derby spoils against Warrington Wolves at Totally Wicked Stadium

Makinson’s penalty leveled the scores and the home side took the lead in the 23rd minute when full-back Jack Welsby won the run to fend off Jonny Lomax’s perfectly judged kick into the corner.

Makinson added the conversion from the touchline and he got a pass from his center Mark Percival to score his team’s second try eight minutes before halftime and extend their lead to 12-2.

Williams was still off the pitch at the time and the visitors clearly missed his tactical spot-kick, which had done so much to cause those early problems for the Saints.

Wolves also suffered a knock with hooker Daryl Clark out with a shoulder injury, while prop Rob Mulhern failed a head injury assessment, but they continued to keep the champions honest.

Welsby delivered a crisp tackle to stop winger Matty Ashton in midair and Percival managed to bring down second rower Oliver Holmes just before the line as the Saints worked overtime to keep their line intact.

There was no turning back for the visitors when Makinson collected in Welsby’s clipped pass to score his second try in the 53rd minute and he would have scored another hat trick had it not been for a fumble on the line of Warrington.

St Helens were then on cruise control and added further tries through Percival, who scored straight from a scrum, and Lomax, who pounced on an error 30 yards from the Warrington line, with Lewis Dodd adding the two conversions.

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Tom Johnstone produces this incredible skill to set up a try for Wakefield Trinity in their win over Toulouse