Wigan clinch Cup thriller

Charnley: Scored two quick tries

Warrington crashed out of the Challenge Cup after a 24-44 defeat by Super League leaders Wigan in a thrilling quarter-final at the Halliwell Jones Stadium on Saturday.

The cup holders for the past two years produced a stunning fightback after going 22-0 down to trail by just two points early in the second half of a match that saw the two sides run in a total of 13 tries.

But Wigan did enough to keep their noses in front and finally put the match to bed with a brace from Josh Charnley and a late score from Sean O'Loughlin.

The Wolves began aggressively and put Wigan under intense pressure from the outset but it was the Warriors who snatched the lead against the run of play.

Harrison Hansen crossed for the first of four quick-fire tries after Paul Deacon sent Thomas Leuluai clear and from the restart Sam Tomkins took advantage when Brett Hodgson stumbled at the kick-off.

Frenetic

Tomkins pounced on the loose ball and blasted 60 metres up the pitch to score. Within minutes, Andy Coley had also crashed over following a great break which caught the Wolves' defence off-guard.

The next came thanks to slick hands from Tomkins and George Carmont and ended with Pat Richards going over in the corner for Wigan's fourth.

Trailing 22-0 with just 27 minutes gone, the Wolves needed to find something special and when the response came it was nothing short of spectacular.

The first sign of a fightback came when Matt King went over on the left at the end of a move that saw Warrington move the ball from one touchline to the other.

The game continued at a frenetic pace and Richie Myler crossed soon after, collecting the inside pass from King who had been sent clear down the wing by Hodgson.

Myler bagged his second in the final attack of the half after Michael Monaghan broke up the middle to take the sides into the break with the scores on 22-16.

Magnificent

Warrington continued to up the tempo after the restart when David Solomona capitalised on a knock-on by Richards to barge his way over and close the gap to just two points.

Richards hit back with his second try, which he converted to restore the eight-point gap but King then claimed his second from close range just before the hour to bring the Wolves back to within four points.

It was not to be for Warrington, though, and Charnley took the game away when he scored from close-range try and followed it up with a magnificent individual effort.

The youngster gathered a loose ball from in front of his own posts and broke through a gap to race the entire length on the pitch and dive through the sticks.

Warrington's great cup run was almost over and O'Loughlin rounded off a great afternoon for Wigan in the closing minutes.