St Helens (0) 18
Tries: Shenton, Flannery, Gaskell Goals: Lomax, Foster 2
Warrington (18) 25
Tries: Briers 2, Myler, Anderson
Goals: Hodgson 4 Drop Goals: Briers

Lee Briers had not scored a try for Warrington since last August

Warrington made themselves right at home in Widnes as they ruined local rivals St Helens' opening night at their new temporary lodgings.

Lee Briers raced in for two early tries backed by an effort from Richie Myler as the Wolves led 18-0 at the break.

Louis Anderson then ran in try number four as Tony Smith's men made nonsense of the statistics suggesting that Saints are their bogey side.

Saints' Michael Shenton, Chris Flannery and Lee Gaskell all crossed late on.

Warrington, whose last win at Knowsley Road was way back in 1994, had won just one of the two sides' last 41 meetings.

But they quickly took a great liking to the Halton Stadium to record a first win over Saints in almost 10 years.

Warrington took just two minutes to break the deadlock when, with Saints expecting a pass, the artful Briers tricked his way in for his first try of the season against his old club.

From Hodgson's little left-foot kick-through, Myler then scampered in for try number two under the posts on 16 minutes.

And, three minutes later, it was three tries to nil when Briers got in again.

Wolves had also got off to a lightning start against Saints in last season's play-offs when Matt King ran in two tries to put his side 8-0 up in the first six minutes.

But, whereas both those conversions were missed last September, Warrington now have a reliable kicker.

And Hodgson improved all three tries to put his side 18-0 up with just 20 minutes gone.

A fourth try came from Louis Anderson 13 minutes into the second half before Shenton pulled one back 14 minutes from time.

But, although Saints came back from 16-0 down to draw with Wigan at the Millennium Stadium, this time the deficit was just too large to make up.

Briers closed the door with a drop goal before two tries in the final four minutes by Flannery and Gaskell were mere damage limitation.

Saints were given few opportunities by a resolute Warrington defence and their scrum-half Kyle Eastmond, still heavily linked with a rugby union switch, produced another indifferent performance, being booed off by his own fans.

St Helens: Wellens; Gardner, Shenton, Lomax, Meli; Gaskell, Eastmond; Graham, Roby, McCarthy-Scarsbrook, Flannery, Soliola, Wilkin.
Replacements: Puletua, Moore, Clough, Foster.

Warrington: Hodgson; Riley, Blythe, Atkins, J Monaghan; Briers, Myler; Morley, M Monaghan, Carvell, Anderson, Westwood, Solomona.
Replacements: Harrison, Higham, Wood, Evans.

Referee: Phil Bentham (Warrington).

Attendance: 10,514.

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