Wolves crush sorry Dragons

Warrington moved within two points of Super League leaders Wigan with a convincing 40-6 win over Catalans Dragons.

Inspired by the return of Lee Briers the Wolves ran in seven tries, six of which were converted by Ben Westwood, at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Full-back Richie Mathers crossed twice as the hosts scored 28 points without reply before the break.

The Dragons did manage a try of their own in the second half through forward David Ferriol. However it was all a case of too little, too late for Les Catalans, who now find themselves propping up the rest after falling below Harlequins.

Rock bottom

To make matters even worse they lost Cyrille Gossard to injury at a ground where they had secured their first ever away win in their Super League history, as well as a famous Challenge Cup semi-final triumph over Wigan.

Any ideas they had of further glory at the venue were gone after 40 minutes.

Despite forward Ben Harrison having to be helped off in the opening minute, the Wolves broke the deadlock just five minutes in when Mathers collected Richie Myler's grubber to get his first of the afternoon.

Briers, who had played only one of the last nine games due to a torn hamstring, marked his comeback with a try following Paul Wood's break.

A dropped pass by the Dragons allowed Louis Anderson to set free Myler before the visitors finally showed some fight, albeit by getting involved in a brawl on the half-hour mark.

French referee Thierry Albert sin-binned Warrington winger Chris Riley and Jean-Phillippe Baile of Les Catalans, though only after he had picked out the right Dragon to punish at the third attempt.

When tempers cooled Warrington got back to running in tries, Mathers - who could be replaced by Huddersfield's Brett Hodgson for next year - completing his brace from Matt King's pass.

The Australian centre provided a second assist just before the interval, this time his boot setting up Riley for his 16th try of the season.

Injury blow

Things went from bad to worse for the Dragons soon after the re-start when Gossard was carried off on a stretcher with a leg injury, though it was later confirmed to be not as serious as first feared.

However they did manage to get over the line themselves after Briers had created a sixth Warrington try for Mike Cooper.

A mix-up between Chris Bridge and Riley allowed Ferriol to nip in and score and he looked certain to touch down for a second time soon after, only to lose the ball over the line under pressure from Mathers.

In the end Warrington had the last word, though, Mickey Higham getting on the end of Myler's kick five minutes from time. Westwood slotted over the extras to complete his personal haul of 12 points.