Wolves feast on Dragons

Warrington Wolves ran in seven tries to crush Catalans Dragons 38-18 at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Michael Monaghan, Vinnie Anderson and Chris Hicks all touched down for the hosts in the first half, but Les Catalans kept the deficit to just four points at 16-12 thanks to converted tries from Clint Greenshields and Sebastien Raguin.

It was one-way traffic after the break as Wolves quartet John Clarke, Paul Johnson, Hicks and Andy Bracek all got across the whitewash to seal a third win in four Super League matches this season.

The Dragons' hopes of a surprise result were dashed by an indisciplined display in which Jason Croker, John Wilson and Remi Casty were all shown yellow cards.

Reardon returns

Warrington were boosted by the return to fitness of Stuart Reardon for the first time this season following shoulder surgery.

In contrast, the Dragons are in the midst of an injury crisis with Casey McGuire, Dane Carlaw, Olivier Elima and Mathieu Griffi all sidelined.

The opening try arrived on 10 minutes when Lee Briers released his half-back partner Monaghan for the score. Briers added the extras.

Louis Anderson then fed older brother Vinnie to make it 10-0 after 17 minutes.

But Les Catalans responded with two tries in three minutes through Greenshields and Raguin, both of which were created by veteran Australian Croker and converted by the boot of Thomas Bosc for a 12-10 lead.

Croker blotted his copybook just before the break when he was shown the yellow card for holding on in the tackle.

And Warrington cashed in on their extra man when Australian winger Hicks powered over from dummy half after Martin Gleeson was held just short. Briers was off target with the conversion.

Wood worry

A more worrying moment occurred for the Wolves just after the break when substitute Paul Wood, making his comeback after a shoulder operation, appeared to suffer a recurrence of the problem.

Les Catalans also lost playmaker Bosc following a heavy tackle from Vinnie Anderson, before Warrington extended their lead to 20-12 when Briers and Gleeson combined for Clarke touch down.

The visitors' poor discipline was further exposed. Wilson saw yellow in the 57th minute and again the Wolves responded positively to the extra space with Johnson adding a fifth try.

And the Catalans were soon down to 11 men when Casty followed to the sin bin as punishment for holding down Kevin Penny.

Hicks added his second try before Justin Murphy went over for the visitors. Bracek added Warrington's seventh try in stoppage time to ice the result.