Warrington secured passage into the quarter-finals of the Challenge Cup on Sunday with a 24-point win over Championship opposition Swinton Lions.
Wire took an early lead through Toby King but the impressive Swinton outfit hit back and led 8-4 at one point. A flurry of tries at the back end of the first half, from Tom Lineham, King again and Blake Austin meant that Steve Price's first-teamers held a 12-point advantage at the break. Further scores from Matty Ashton and Danny Walker made sure of the win in the second half. Here are my six talking points...
1) Clunkety clunk
Once again, the attack failed to fire today. Wire only scored six tries against the Championship side, with too many errors in attack and poor execution preventing more points from being put on the board. This has been a problem for three years now.
2) Playing without wings
Both Wire wingers had a shocker today. Josh Charnley was caught out with two kick-offs and Tom Lineham made a multitude of errors. Lineham is in decent form but Charnley's position in the team must surely be under threat?
3) Half a job
The half-back partnership of Austin and Stefan Ratchford didn't really work. Ratchford is too elusive in the halves and this game showed how important Gareth Widdop is to the team. The attack, which scored 44 points last week, could only put 32 on a Championship team this time out.
4) Too strong?
I was quite surprised with how strong Steve Price went with his team selection - only Jack Hughes, Mike Cooper and Widdop being rested. I like the fact that he respected the competition and the opposition but giving the likes of Sitaleki Akauola or Josh Thewlis a chance might have got a response out of the first-teamers in the coming games.
5) The right is left behind
Six Wire tries today and five of them on the left edge. It's a recurring theme of course, but there is nothing coming down the right hand side. Jake Mamo and Josh Charnley didn't link up well today, not in comparison with King and Lineham.
6) Slay the dragons?
After league games against Hull FC, Catalans Dragons and Hull KR, Wire will then face the Dragons again in the quarter-finals. A tough tie and improvement on this performance will be needed to make the last four. They look a dangerous outfit this year, particularly with Sam Tomkins running things.
Player Ratings
Matty Ashton - 7/10
Had a decent enough game, was solid under the high ball and got a try in the second half.
Tom Lineham - 4/10
A threat out wide with his finishing ability but some woeful defending and passing today.
Toby King - 7/10
As always, one of Wire's strongest players. Two tries and good handling throughout.
Jake Mamo - 4/10
Very poor, I thought. Needs to pass the ball to his winger more.
Josh Charnley - 3/10
Couldn't catch a cold today. I'm a Charnley fan but he's in a rut right now.
Blake Austin - 6/10
Not too bad. Scored a nice show-and-go try and set up another with a good pass.
Stefan Ratchford - 5/10
He's not a half-back at all.
Chris Hill - 7/10
Worked very hard. I'm sure he wasn't supposed to play as many minutes as he did.
Daryl Clark - 6/10
Some decent distribution but nothing of major note.
Joe Philbin - 6/10
He's definitely a prop rather than a loose forward.
Ben Currie - 7/10
Ran good lines today and got a great pass away for Lineham's try.
Ellis Robson - 5/10
Can't say I noticed much of him but we never really got the ball out to that side.
Jason Clark - 6/10
A solid performance. One really good offload in the second half.
Robbie Mulhern - 7/10
Big metres and effort from the bench.
Matt Davis - 7/10
Industry, effort and work-rate.
Rob Butler - 5/10
Didn't notice him.
Danny Walker - 7/10
Really nice individual try.
@ALooseWire
No comments:
Post a Comment