Ashton hat-trick helps Warrington surge to Super League win against St Helens
Warrington continued their dominance over St Helens to record a seventh straight victory over their local rivals and hand Sam Burgess' side a much-needed win to alleviate the early-season pressure on the Wolves.
Burgess' men came into this game ninth with just four wins from their opening eight games. However, despite once upon a time winning just one of the first 37 meetings between these teams in Super League's early years, these days, the balance of power is much more in the Wire's favour.
They have now won seven in a row against the Saints, including three in the past five weeks, one of which was a Challenge Cup quarter-final victory earlier this month. Here, despite being without the England captain, George Williams, due to injury, they were worthy winners against a St Helens side with their own mounting issues.
Paul Wellens' side look a shadow of the team who won four consecutive league titles between 2019 and 2022 – and have now lost 13 consecutive games against the teams who finished in the top three last year: Wigan, Hull KR and Warrington. They look anything but a side capable of mounting a push for the Grand Final as it stands.
The Wire were much the stronger of the two sides in the early exchanges, aided largely by some horrendous errors by the Saints. On several occasions, their senior players turned the ball over cheaply and it handed Warrington numerous opportunities that eventually they would capitalise upon.
They went ahead when Toby King crossed, before a brace from Matty Ashton opened up a commanding lead for the hosts. In response, Jon Bennison had finished a fine team move for the Saints, but as half-time approached they came alive. Despite being fairly sub-par for most of the half, they somehow went in at the break only two behind.
That was thanks in no small part to two magnificent finishes from Mark Percival, who cut through the Warrington defence twice inside five minutes to make it 16-14. The withdrawal of Marc Sneyd following a head knock would have buoyed St Helens, but within six minutes of the restart they had fallen further behind once again as Ashton completed his hat-trick with a spectacular flying one-handed finish to open up a six-point lead.
Yet despite having neither of their senior half-backs on the field, it was Warrington who always looked more likely to score again next. That crucial moment arrived with 15 minutes to go, as the Wolves worked the ball right to allow Rodrick Tai to ground before Matt Dufty cut through some insipid Saints defending to put the result beyond doubt.
The Saints did score a consolation through Bennison, but there was no doubting which side deserved to win here.
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