Super 8s: Warrington 52-24 Catalans – 20-point Declan Patton inspires Wolves to victory
Warrington stand-off Declan Patton claimed a personal haul of 20 points, as he inspired the Wolves to a 52-24 victory over the Catalans Dragons in the Super 8s Qualifiers at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Patton claimed a try and landed eight goals from nine attempts, as well as creating tries for Ryan Atkins and Stefan Ratchford with some pinpoint kicking.
Ratchford, Atkins and Tom Lineham claimed two tries each for Warrington, with others coming from Matty Russell and Peta Hiku in a convincing win.
Warrington followed up their win over local rivals Widnes to make it two from two in the Qualifiers, and will now be confident of taking their place back in Super League next season with four of their remaining five games being against Championship opposition.
It was a disappointing afternoon for the Dragons whose efforts were rewarded with two tries from Krisnan Inu, with Remi Casty and Lewis Tierney also touching down, and four goals from Luke Walsh.
The Wolves made just one change to the side that defeated Widnes, with Ben Westwood coming back into the side at loose forward after a three-game suspension to make his 400th appearance for the club.
Catalans also made just one change from their opening Qualifers victory over London, with Fouad Yaha returning to the squad in place of Iain Thornley.
It was the Wolves who were quick out of the blocks, and claimed two tries in the opening eight minutes to race into an early 12-0 lead.
Firstly a Hiku break and inside pass allowed Ratchford to score the opening try after just two minutes, and then a long pass from Hill gave winger Russell the space to crash over in the corner, and Patton was on target with both conversions.
The Wolves continued to dominate the early exchanges and extended their lead after 14 minutes when Patton sent Lineham clear down the left wing, and the winger returned the favour as his inside pass sent Patton in under the posts.
Patton added his third conversion to stretch Warrington's lead to 18-0 and it should have got even better for the home side soon after Hiku's break, but Ratchford failed to take the centre's pass with open field ahead of him.
On the back of two successive penalties Catalans claimed their first try midway through the first half when Walsh sent Casty over from close range and the half-back converted.
But any hopes of a Dragons comeback were extinguished, as the Wolves roared back with another two tries in six minutes.
Patton's cross-field kick was claimed by Atkins under no pressure for a simple try, and then another superb reverse kick from Patton allowed Ratchford to claim his second try of the game.
Patton maintained his 100 per cent record with the boot to give Warrington a commanding 30-6 lead at half-time.
Catalans claimed the first try of the second half four minutes after the restart when a powerful burst down the right wing brought a try for Inu, which Walsh converted from the touchline.
But the Wolves claimed their sixth try five minutes later when, in an exact carbon copy of the move which brought a try in the first half, Patton's cross-field kick was plucked out of the air by Atkins for his second try of the game and Patton converted to make it 36-12.
Tierney scored a spectacular long-range try for the visitors after 57 minutes when he fielded Kevin Brown's kick and raced 80 metres to score and Walsh again converted.
But on the hour mark it was Warrington's turn to score from deep inside their own half when Lineham picked off Walsh's pass to sprint 90 metres for a try and Patton again goaled.
Another powerful run by Inu brought him his second try 11 minutes from time, but the Wolves had the final say and passed the 50-point mark when Lineham went over in the corner for his second try in the dying minutes to complete the win.