Wolves reign in Spain

In-form Warrington came from behind to beat Catalans Dragons 24-12 in the first-ever Super League game to be played in Spain.

The Dragons led 12-6 shortly after half-time before the Wolves hit back with tries from Matt King, Chris Riley and Jon Clarke.

The win was Warrington's sixth victory in seven games to keep Tony Smith's side firmly in play-off contention in the engage Super League.

The historic match drew a crowd of 18,150 to Barcelona's Olympic Stadium, with over 12,000 French fans making the two-hour trip over the border to the Catalan capital.

Bird missing

Jerome Guisset took over as Les Catalans' captain with Greg Bird back in Australia awaiting sentencing for assault.

Clint Greenshields, Jamal Fakir and Jason Ryles returned following their excellent 32-30 win over Leeds a fortnight ago but it was Fakir who handed Warrington the opportunity to open the scoring.

The Catalans forward was penalised for a high shot on King and the Wolves took full advantage with Richard Mathers sending Chris Bridge over in the seventh minute, with Chris Hicks then making a touchline conversion.

Bridge had switched to centre from stand-off with Simon Grix, who partnered Michael Monaghan in the halves, while Adrian Morley and Ben Westwood had returned from England duty for the Wolves.

But Hicks conceded a penalty after a superb 60-metre run by Steve Bell in the 17th minute and Jason Croker burrowed over from dummy-half, with Thomas Bosc adding the extras.

Then three minutes later David Ferriol and Casey McGuire forced Riley to spill possession in front of his own posts and slick passing by McGuire, Bosc and Adam Mogg sent Cyril Stacul over in the corner.

The home side should have gone further ahead with Greenshields making a 40-metre break while Mogg and Bosc kicks forced Riley and Bridge to concede goal-line drop-outs.

Hit back

Bosc's 46th-minute penalty then made it 12-6, but the Wolves soon hit back as Louis Anderson's short pass put King through following a knock-on by Mogg.

Riley then followed suit, diving over after collecting a well-weighted Grix grubber shortly before the hour mark.

The Dragons piled on the pressure to try and find a way back into the match, with Bosc denied a 69th-minute try by the video referee.

But Clarke's burst from dummy-half and Hicks' late penalty sealed the win for the Wolves, who rebounded following a home loss to Bradford last time out.