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Crusaders 10-30 Warrington

Crusaders (4) 10
Tries: Youngquest, Hanbury Goals: Schifcofske

Warrington (14) 30
Tries: Hicks 2, Solomona, Higham, Riley 2 Goals: Briers 2, Westwood


Chris Riley
Riley has now matched Henry Fa'afili's 21 tries in 2007 with seven games left

Chris Riley became the first Warrington man to score 20 tries in a Super League season since Henry Fa'afili in 2007 as they eased to victory in Wrexham.

Winger Riley ran in another two to take his tally for the season to 21, matched by two for Chris Hicks, who now has 17 for the campaign from the other wing.

Subs David Solomana and Mickey Higham added the two tries for Warrington, who again only landed half their kicks.

Crusaders' two tries came from Nick Youngquest and Rhys Hanbury.

Warrington cemented their hold on second place as they bounced back well from last week's home defeat by Leeds.

Boss Tony Smith made three starting changes, Richie Myler coming in at scrum-half, with Paul Wood at prop and Vinnie Anderson at loose forward.

Crusaders coach Brian Noble was able to draft rugby union convert Gareth Thomas into the centre for his 13th match of the season after a fortnight out with a groin injury - but he lasted just 18 minutes.

Warrington took just under two minutes to register the opening scorer when the ball was spun wide for Richie Mathers to supply Hicks.

But, 11 minutes later, Noble's men were back on level terms when Youngquest picked up the ball on his own 10-yard line, pinned back his ears and raced 60 yards for a spectacular touchdown.

Shortly after the loss of Thomas, Warrington were back in front when Hicks latched onto a Lee Briers grubber kick to just touch down before the ball went dead.

Powerful Garreth Carvell then offloaded to big Samoan David Solomona, Briers adding his first successful conversion to send the Wolves in 14-4 ahead at the break.

And two tries inside seven second-half minutes from Mickey Higham and Riley all but sealed the win.

The Welshmen did hit back when half-back Hanbury twisted and turned to sneak in by the posts, giving full-back Clinton Schifcofske a simple conversion.

But Riley went over for Warrington's sixth touchdown on the hooter to finish things off - his 21st try of the season briefly taking him above Wigan's Pat Richards as the league's leading scorer.


Crusaders coach Brian Noble said:

"It may be two or three weeks for Gareth Thomas. The reality is that he trained with us this week and looked fit but hindsight is a wonderful thing.

"We have not been stable through our injuries in the last couple of weeks and, in a small squad, that hits you.

"But we got back to competing this week which is good because we didn't compete against Wakefield last week."

Warrington coach Tony Smith said:

"I'm not too bothered about Wigan. We will finish where we deserve to finish but we want to get to a position where we are proud of and we showed some signs of that today.

"We're not over the moon. I don't want to take anything away from the Crusaders because they played well but I'm pleased that we got better as the game went on.

"There were signs of our defence getting back to its aggressive self. Michael Monaghan was outstanding defensively and in attack as well."


Crusaders: Schifcofske, Dyer, Thomas, Martin, Youngquest, Lupton, Hanbury, O'Hara, Withers, Bryant, Hauraki, Winternstein, Trimarchi.
Replacements: Thackray, Peek, Flower, Sammut.

Warrington: Mathers, Hicks, King, Atkins, Riley, Briers, Myler, Wood, Monaghan, Harrison, L Anderson, Westwood, V Anderson.
Replacements: Higham, Grix, Carvell, Solomona.

Referee: Steve Ganson (St Helens).

Attendance: 5,197.



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Bridge set to miss rest of season
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Warrington 30-37 Leeds
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Crusaders 0-41 Wakefield
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Warrington 46-12 Crusaders
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Rugby League on the BBC
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