Warrington 48-12 London Broncos: Tom Lineham stars as Wolves move top
By PA Sport
Last Updated: 06/04/19 12:04am
A Tom Lineham hat-trick helped Warrington move to the top of the Betfred Super League with a comfortable 48-12 victory over London Broncos at the Halliwell Jones stadium.
The Wolves leapfrogged local rivals St Helens to head the table on points difference before the unbeaten Saints take on the Catalans Dragons in Perpignan on Saturday afternoon. The two pacesetters will then meet next Friday in a blockbuster clash at the Totally Wicked Stadium - both games are live on Sky Sports.
As well as Lineham's treble, Blake Austin scored twice to make it six tries in two games for the influential Australian stand-off. Also on the scoresheet for the Wolves were Josh Charnley, Jason Clark, Ryan Atkins and Stefan Ratchford, who also kicked six goals.
London claimed consolation tries through Nathan Mason and Matty Gee in the second half, with Kieran Dixon kicking two goals.
Warrington gave a debut on the bench to Matt Davis, who played on loan with the Broncos last weekend, while Atkins and Danny Walker were also recalled among three changes from the side that demolished Hull FC 63-12.
London also gave Super League debuts to Matt Davies and James Meadows in a host of changes from the side that lost narrowly at home to Huddersfield, with Ryan Morgan, Mark Ioane and Will Lovell also coming back into the squad.
The Broncos started brightly and, helped by four penalties in the opening 10 minutes, laid siege to the Warrington line but could find no way through an excellent home defence.
And it was the Wolves who opened the scoring after 15 minutes. Charnley was stopped short in the right-hand corner but the ball was moved across the line and Ratchford's pass allowed Lineham to dive over in the left-hand corner for his first of the night.
London continued to cause Warrington plenty of problems without turning their attractive approach play and territorial advantage into any points.
And they were caught with another sucker-punch when, on another rare first-half foray into London territory by the Wolves, Austin's accurate long pass allowed Charnley to score in the corner to make it 8-0.
Despite never reaching the heights of last week's win at Hull in the opening 40 minutes, Warrington added another two tries in the final five minutes of the half.
First, Austin scored a fine solo try as he blasted through the London defence, and then three minutes later Daryl Clark's kick deflected kindly into the hands of Jason Clark to claim his first try for the club. Ratchford kicked his first two conversions of the night to give Warrington a 20-0 half-time advantage.
The start of the second half followed a similar pattern to the first, with plenty of good approach play by the Broncos, and this time they got their reward when Mason dotted down under the posts and Dixon converted.
But three tries in seven minutes from Ratchford, a 60-metre solo effort from Atkins and Austin's second eased any Warrington concerns as they stretched their lead to 36-6.
Gee claimed a try for London before Lineham scored two further tries in the final 12 minutes to complete his hat-trick and seal a comfortable win for the Wolves.
