Round 4: Saints see off battling
Warrington

St Helens continued to hold the Indian sign over Warrington after edging a hard-fought encounter 18-10 at a bitterly cold Halliwell Jones Stadium.

Saints survived the absence of three key forwards to claim a remarkable 22nd victory from 25 Super League encounters against their rivals from across the M62.

It was the fourth straight win this term for Daniel Anderson?s side but they were made to work for it during an intriguing arm-wrestle with Paul Cullen?s men.

While St Helens were never allowed to get fully into their stride, they took their chances in devastating fashion and converted tries from Keiron Cunningham and Willie Talau handed them a 12-0 interval advantage.

Warrington rallied after the restart as Henry Fa?afili and Mike Wainwright crossed the line, but Ade Gardner?s try shortly before the hour mark ultimately proved crucial.

The pitch was deemed playable by referee Ian Smith following an inspection after snowfall and bitterly cold conditions during the afternoon.

Snow covered the surface as the match kicked off but it quickly became apparent the players were prepared to fight fire with fire in front of a bumper crowd.

Jason Hooper clattered Wolves skipper Lee Briers with a late challenge after just two minutes with the Saints loose forward fortunate to escape punishment.

Not surprisingly Warrington looked to the boot of the impressive Briers to provide their ammunition but Saints quickly stamped their authority on proceedings and Sean Long orchestrated the opening try after nine minutes.

The scrum-half?s high bomb was met by Lyon, who neatly worked the ball back to Cunningham and the Great Britain hooker scampered over the line from close range.

Lyon converted before St Helens were forced to defend their line furiously as Warrington enjoyed a spell of sustained pressure, only for their final pass to betray them.

Their failure to make their pressure pay was ruthlessly punished on the half hour mark as Saints produced a typically scintillating score.

Francis Meli seized possession deep inside his own half before outpacing a number of his opponents and finding Talau racing in support to his left.

The New Zealand international?s perfect offload found his compatriot, who outstripped the home defence to race from the halfway line and claim a try again converted by Lyon.

However, the Wolves began to bare their teeth after the restart and took just three minutes to drag themselves back into the game.

Briers? excellent diagonal kick into the right-hand corner was superbly caught and grounded by Fa?afili to lift home spirits.

Briers was desperately unlucky to see his goal attempt rebound off a post but Saints hit back after 58 minutes with a splendid move that saw them claim their third try.

The ball passed through four pairs of hands in a bewildering array of inter-passing which culminated in Gardner grounding in the right-hand corner.

Lyon missed the conversion and moments later Hooper was sinbinned for another tackle on Briers, and the Wolves duly took advantage as Wainwright crashed over the line.

Briers added the extras to bring the score to 10-16 but Lyon added a late penalty to leave Warrington with just one Super League victory against their local rivals.

Warrington: Grose, Fa'afili, M. Gleeson, Kohe-Love, Barnett, Briers, Bridge, Leikvoll, Clarke, Wood, Noone, Wainwright, Westwood.
Replacements: Sullivan, M. Gleeson, Hilton, Lima.

St Helens: Wellens, Gardner, Lyon, Talau, Meli, Pryce, Long, P. Anderson, Cunningham, Cayless, Gilmour, V. Anderson, Hooper.
Replacements: Roby, Wilkin, Bennett, Fa'asavalu.

Warrington: (0) 10.
Tries: Fa'afili, Wainwright.
Goals: Briers.

St Helens: (12) 18.
Tries: Cunningham, Talau, Gardner.
Goals: Lyon 3.

Referee: I Smith (Oldham)

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