Hungry Wolves devour Quins

Chris Bridge: Scored four tries in Warrington romp against Harlequins

Chris Bridge starred with four tries as Warrington again moved to within a point of Wigan at the top of Super League with a crushing 54-24 win at Harlequins.

The Wolves roared to a 36-6 half-time lead, putting the game beyond doubt by the interval.

They ran in nine tries in all, with Paul Wood, Lee Briers, Joel Monaghan, Richie Myler and Garreth Carvell adding to Bridge's quartet.

Brett Hodgson added seven goals for Warrington while Briers and Mickey Higham also added points with the boot.

Luke Dorn (2), Andy Ellis and Daniel Sarginson crossed for Harlequins tries while Luke Gale kicked four goals.

Early blitz

The visitors had the best possible start, taking the lead inside the first two minutes when Gale's kick was charged down allowing Carvell to canter under the posts.

Wolves capitalised on their early superiority by adding a second try soon after when Myler dummied through a gap and offloaded for Bridge to touch down.

There were still only nine minutes on the clock when Bridge helped himself to his second try, shrugging off some weak tackling to stroll home.

Harlequins seemed incapable of maintaining possession, while Tony Smith's men were simply able to do whatever they wanted.

Memories of March no doubt flooded through the minds of home fans, with the Wolves having destroyed Quins 82-6 in the reverse fixture earlier this campaign.

But to their credit the hosts did flicker into life, Gale cashing in after his own kick had deflected off a host of players to claim a try.

A lengthy stoppage for an injury to Matt King halted a brief Harlequins revival in its tracks and Joel Monaghan pushed Warrington further ahead when he darted over after Bridge had been held just short.

Embarrassing

Things were swiftly becoming embarrassing for the hosts, even more so when Michael Monaghan breezed through some weak tackling to set up Briers.

The visitors were already up to the 30-point mark with less than 30 minutes on the clock and the one-way traffic continued as Bridge completed his hat-trick after Hodgson had engineered a gap.

It was more of the same after the break, Bridge notching his fourth when he was on hand to take a Joel Monaghan offload from a Myler kick. Myler then struck with a try of his own as Quins once more fell apart.

As they had in the first half, the home side showed signs of life, Dorn tearing home after a Tony Clubb break. Sarginson then got in on the act, the teenager jinking inside and out before diving over for Harlequins' third try.

But with the Londoners seemingly unable to stop Warrington from offloading in the tackle, coupled with them regularly giving up possession, it was never going to be more than a brief respite.

Wood rounded things off for the Wolves when he crashed over minutes from time, with Ellis adding a last-gasp consolation.

For Quins it was an eighth home defeat in 11 games this season.