Warrington Wolves (12) 26
T : Ben Currie 2, Ryan Atkins 2, Chris Hill
G : Gareth O’Brien 3

Catalans Dragons (6) 18
T : Tony Gigot, Eloi Pelissier, Elliott Whitehead
G : Scott Dureau 3

Two tries from Ryan Atkins and Ben Currie helped Warrington Wolves to a hard-earned 26-18 victory over Catalans Dragons.

The Wolves bounced back from their Magic Weekend defeat to St Helens to claim a crucial win against the French side to keep them on the heels of First Utility Super League's top four.

As well as tries for Atkins and Currie, Warrington's scored through a super solo effort from prop forward Chris Hill while Gareth O'Brien landed three conversions.

The Dragons claimed tries from Tony Gigot, Eloi Pelissier and Elliott Whitehead in defeat and three conversions from Scott Dureau.

O'Brien made a shaky start on his return to action when he booted the kick-off straight out on the full, gifting the Dragons an early penalty on halfway, but the Wolves survived the early pressure.

But there was to be no reprieve for another Warrington error soon after when full-back Stefan Ratchford lost possession under the force of Whitehead's tackle and the loose ball was scooped up by centre Gigot who had a simple walk-in try.

The Wolves then dominated both territory and possession but were finding it tough to find any way through a stubborn Catalans defence.

Wolves forward Ben Westwood was placed on report by referee Robert Hicks after a dangerous tackle on Jason Baitieri but Dureau failed to find the target from 40 metres out from the resulting penalty.

Warrington got on the scoreboard after 23 minutes when another period of pressure saw the French defence crack as O'Brien sent Currie racing over for a try.

The Wolves took the lead nine minutes before half-time when on the sixth tackle Daryl Clark's kick deflected into the hands of Richie Myler and his long pass gave Atkins the space to use his excellent footwork to cut though the defence and touch down.
O'Brien was again on target with the conversion to give Tony Smith's side a 12-6 half time advantage.

Catalans struck first after the interval when hooker Pelissier sold an outrageous dummy to the Wolves defence to claim a fine solo try and Dureau's conversion drew the French side level at 12-12.

And it got better for the French outfit three minutes later when more excellent work by Pelissier allowed Whitehead to plunge over from close range to put the visitors in front at 18-12.

In what was a real purple patch for Catalans they could have put more points on the board when Morgan Escare split the Wolves with a wonderful midfield break but a wild pass failed to find a team-mate and the chance was lost.

And they were made to pay as Warrington immediately went up the other end of the field and some fine handling allowed Atkins to score his second try of the game to reduce the deficit to two points at 18-16.

And on the hour-mark Warrington hit the front again with a superb individual try from prop forward Hill who showed excellent footwork to round Ian Henderson and race clear to score. O'Brien converted to edge his side further in front at 22-18

And the Wolves stretched their lead further seven minutes later with a spectacular near length-of-the-field try when Ratchford broke from deep and sent Currie sprinting 50 metres down the touchline for a thrilling score which opened up an advantage that proved just too much for the Dragons to claw back.

Team Sheet

Warrington : Ratchford, Monaghan, Bridge, Atkins, Ormsby, O’Brien, Myler, Hill, Clark, Sims, Currie, Westwood, Harrison
Bench: Laithwaite, England, Dwyer, King

Dragons : Escaré, Oldfield, Gigot, Pomeroy, Yaha, Robin, Dureau, Elima, Henderson, Casty, Taia, Whitehead, Baitieri
Bench: Anderson, Pelissier, Bousquet, Maria

Referee: Robert Hicks