Friday 13 June 2014 22:55, UK
Warrington coach Tony Smith was delighted with the performance of his patched-up team as they extended their winning run to six matches with a 34-4 rout of Hull KR.
Centre Joel Monaghan scored two of his side's six tries as the double-chasing Wolves emerged from a scoreless opening quarter to produce a dominant display.
"Anything can happen in a short turn-around but we turned up good today," Smith said. "We were full of energy.
"We had a few missing - we are almost down to the bare bones with injuries - but we brought some good young blokes in who did a fantastic job.
"It was a good hard tough performance from us. I thought we were really professional. I don't know if it was the most professional we've been all year but it was right up there. There were some good efforts right across the board.
"There is a confidence building within the team and a lot of that revolves around our defensive efforts. We are defending around our tryline as good as we have in the last two years.
"That makes us hard to beat, particularly with some of the tryscoring ability in our team."
Smith had the opportunity to give a debut to Joe Philbin, who got his chance in the absence of five first-choice forwards, and he was thrilled with his bow.
"He was great," Smith said. "I loved watching him. I've signed a contract extension based on the future and I'm excited about it. Young George King isn't far off making his debut.
"We've got some real exciting kids coming through. We had eight or nine home-grown kids there and I'm delighted with that. We're now developing our own kids and I'm proud of that."
Hull KR threatened a comeback when Graeme Horne went over on 57 minutes but Warrington gained their second wind, adding further tries through Ben Evans, Ryan Atkins and Monaghan in the last 12 minutes, with Chris Bridge taking his goal tally to five from six attempts.
Rovers coach Craig Sandercock said: "Warrington were way too good for us tonight. We gave away a lot of possession in the first half. We're having to do too much defending."
Hull, who like Warrington, were also without a host of senior players, suffered a major blow when former Bradford forward Jamie Langley went off on 63 minutes.
"It looks like an extremely serious injury," Sandercock said. "The doctor seems to think he's ruptured his patella tendon and, if that's the case, his season is definitely over. We're all devastated for Jamie."
