Catalans 20-30 Warrington: Wolves rally for win in Perpignan
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 13/03/16 10:15pm
Warrington made it five Super League wins from five in 2016 as they produced a late show to beat Catalans Dragons 30-20 in Perpignan on Saturday.
The Wolves looked set for a first defeat of the season until George King went in with three minutes left, Chris Sandow adding a clincher for good measure.
After a number of near-misses over recent years, Tony Smith's Wolves genuinely look the real deal this season, this win underlining that further, even though it was a game where they did not have it all their own way.
Catalans opened the scoring in the ninth minute, ex-Wolves star Richie Myler and Glenn Stewart finding Todd Carney down the right and the former Australia international raced thirty metres to score to the right of the posts. Pat Richards added the conversion to give the hosts a six-point lead.
Louis Anderson's error 30 metres from his own line allowed Warrington to get a foothold in the game.
The ball was sent to the right to Rhys Evans who stepped out of Richards' attempted tackle before touching down. The try was awarded on the approval of the video referee and Kurt Gidley added the conversion to level the scores.
On 23 minutes, Justin Horo broke down the left for the Catalans before drawing the full-back and passing out wide to Richards, who touched down in the left corner for his fourth try of the season. Richards converted his own try from the touchline to extend the Catalans lead to 12-6.
Richards further extended the Catalans lead with a penalty on 27 minutes after Chris Hill and Joe Westerman had infringed.
Warrington cut the lead on the half-hour, Stefan Ratchford charging down Myler's attempted kick downfield and regathering. On the next play, Sandow sent a pass out to the prolific Ben Currie on the left to score his fifth try of the season. Gidley converted to narrow the gap to two points.
Three minutes before the interval, Mitchell Dodds suffered a suspected broken leg and left the field on a stretcher.
Catalans opened the scoring in the second half, Carney playing a key role to send Vincent Duport over in the left corner, and Richards converted to take the score to 20-12.
Warrington refused to go away, though, and shortly before the hour Matty Russell was allowed to run in front of the Catalans defence and created space for Evans to score his second try of the night down the right edge. Gidley converted to once again make it a two-point game.
A penalty on half-way gifted Warrington the field position they needed to send King over down the right for the match winning try - again goaled by Gidley.
With Catalans pushing to score in the dying moments to clinch a win, Stewart's mis-placed pass allowed Sandow to touch down in the last minute and Gidley's fifth goal clinched the points for Warrington.
