St Helens crush Warrington Wolves to maintain unbeaten start to Super League season
Reigning champions St Helens defeat Warrington Wolves; Wakefield Trinity overcome Toulouse Olympique and Hull Kingston Rovers beat Salford Red Devils in Friday night's Super League action
Last Updated: 11/03/22 11:02pm
Reigning champions St Helens brushed aside Warrington Wolves 28-2 to maintain their 100 per cent start to the Super League season.
In-form England winger Tommy Makinson followed up his hat-trick against Hull KR a week earlier with a try in each half to take his total for the club to 154 in 267 appearances as Saints showed why they are perfectly placed to secure an unprecedented fourth successive Grand Final triumph.
Kristian Woolf's men look to be in a league of their own after the first five rounds of the campaign and even a much-improved performance from the Wolves could not put a dent into their self-belief.
Fresh from a home defeat by Grand Final runners-up Catalans Dragons, Warrington produced some of their best rugby of the season in the opening quarter but were unable to penetrate their opponents' tight-knit defence.
Daryl Powell's men, who won on their last visit to the Totally Wicked Stadium last June, had youngster Josh Thewlis on the wing in the absence of leading try-scorer Josh Charnley, who began a two-match ban, while Will Hopoate was in his more familiar centre spot for Saints in the absence of the suspended Konrad Hurrell.
Stung by criticism from Powell over their lacklustre performance against the Dragons, the Wolves matched the champions toe for toe in the opening stages and took the lead with a penalty from Stefan Ratchford on the 400th appearance of his career.
Saints were then reduced to 12 men on 15 minutes when second-rower Sione Mata'utia, going up against brother Peter, was sin-binned for a high and late tackle on Warrington stand-off George Williams, who was also shown a yellow card seven minutes later for persistent offside by his team.
Makinson's penalty levelled the scores and the home side went in front on 23 minutes when full-back Jack Welsby won the race to stand-off Jonny Lomax's perfectly-judged grubber kick to the corner.
Makinson added the touchline conversion and he got on the end of a pass from his centre Mark Percival to score his side's second try eight minutes before half-time and extend their lead to 12-2.
Williams was still off the field by then and the visitors clearly missed his tactical kicking, which had done so much to cause Saints those early problems.
The Wolves also suffered a blow with hooker Daryl Clark going off with a shoulder injury, while prop Rob Mulhern failed a head injury assessment, but they continued to keep the champions honest.
Welsby pulled off a crunching tackle to halt winger Matty Ashton in full flight and Percival managed to haul down second-rower Oliver Holmes just short of the line as Saints worked overtime to keep their line intact.
There was no way back for the visitors when Makinson gathered in Welsby's cut-out pass to score his second try on 53 minutes and he would have completed another hat-trick but for a fumble on the Warrington line.
St Helens were in cruise control by then and added further tries through Percival, who scored directly from a scrum, and Lomax, who pounced on an error 30 metres out from the Warrington line, with Lewis Dodd adding both conversions.
Trinity open account against Toulouse
Wakefield picked up their first win of the Betfred Super League season with an 18-6 win over Toulouse, who remain rooted to the foot of the table.
Just two points separated the teams heading into the break as Guy Armitage quickly responded to Liam Hood's opening try for the hosts. Brad Walker's penalty then gave Wakefield an 8-6 lead at the interval at the Be Well Support Stadium.
Kelepi Tanginoa then scored an early second-half try before Corey Hall finished well late on to seal a much-needed victory for Wakefield.
Lewis' brace inspires Hull KR
Mikey Lewis scored two tries to inspire Hull KR to their second win of the season - a 26-16 victory over Salford at the AJ Bell Stadium.
Tony Smith's side led 18-0 at the break but were pegged back by a determined Salford fightback which saw them get within two points of the visitors with a quarter of the game remaining.
Both teams suffered heavy defeats in their last outings against Huddersfield and St Helens respectively, but it was Hull KR who looked to have rediscovered their form first. Half-backs Lewis and Jordan Abdull directed their team around the field with impressive authority.
Abdull's kicking game was exceptional, especially in the first half when the rain was teeming down and caused no end of problems for Salford full-back Ryan Brierley. He also landed five goals from as many attempts.
