Wolves get back on track

Warrington bounced back from their home loss to Leeds last time out with a comfortable 30-10 victory over Crusaders in Wrexham.

The Wolves scored six tries to cement themselves in second spot after nearest rivals St Helens had been beaten by the Rhinos on Saturday.

Chris Hicks crossed twice to help the visitors, who welcomed back Richie Myler, Paul Wood and Vinnie Anderson, build a 14-4 half-time lead.

Crusaders did manage tries from Nick Youngquest and Rhys Hanbury but it was not enough to prevent from them slipping to a second straight loss at the Racecourse, leaving them still three points short of the final play-off place.

No upset

Not even the return of rugby union convert Gareth Thomas after a fortnight out with a groin injury could help Brian Noble's troops cause an upset at home.

Warrington took just under two minutes to break the deadlock, Richie Mathers' pass setting up winger Hicks for his first of the afternoon.

Crusaders briefly hit back when Youngquest scored a spectacular individual try that saw him race 60 yards through the defence to reach the line.

However the Welsh side were dealt a blow when Thomas, who had started in the centres, was forced off when his groin problem flared up again.

Hicks put the Wolves back in front midway through the first half when he latched on to a Lee Briers grubber kick, just touching the ball down before it ran dead.

Before the break Garreth Carvell set up David Solomona for a third score for the away team, Briers adding the conversion to open up a 10-point gap.

Quick-fire double

A pair of tries inside seven second-half minutes then sealed the win for Tony Smith's troops, former Wigan hooker Mickey Higham grabbing the first.

His effort was followed up by winger Chris Riley going over, putting Warrington in full control. Crusaders did get a late consolation when half-back Hanbury twisted and turned to sneak in by the posts with nine minutes to go.

Full-back Clinton Schifcofske slotted over the simple conversion and they came close to crossing again through centre Tony Martin.

However it was the Wolves who had the last word, Riley completing his brace just before the full-time hooter. Ben Westwood stepped up to kick the extras.