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Injuries mar Warrington's win
Independent on Sunday, The, Apr 1, 2007 by Dave Hadfield AT THE HALLIWELL JONES STADIUM
Warrington 38
Hull KR 10
Half-time: 10-4
Warrington made up for their defeat in last year's competition with a clear-cut Carnegie Challenge Cup fourth-round victory, taking command in the second half.
Two tries from Brent Grose and 14 points from Chris Bridge pointed the Wolves towards the next round, but Rovers' coach Justin Morgan was furious about the injury toll on his players. Three of them - Tommy Gallagher, Gareth Morton and Luke Dyer - finished with suspected broken jaws and there were a variety of other head injuries, Morgan said.
"Players need to get more protection out there. It's a tough enough game as it is," he said. "I might ask them to wear helmets next week."
Grose was largely responsible for Warrington taking an early lead. It was his tackle that slammed Jon Steel into touch when Rovers put together the first attack of the game and he took advantage when another Robins attack broke down. Gallagher had sent Bryon Ford away, but the winger threw a wild pass that allowed the Wolves to work methodically and create an overlap for Grose to score on the left wing.
If Gallagher's was a suicidal pass, so was the one released by Jon Clarke three minutes later. It was intercepted by David Tangata- Toa and there was no one at home to deny the prop the equalising try.
The visitors would have been ahead if Ben Fisher had not ruined a good break with a forward pass or if Ben Cockayne had been able to gather Scott Murrell's kick. Instead, Warrington had the lead at half-time, thanks to a try that was fortunate on several levels. Makali Aizue was wrongly pulled up for a knock on, Rovers complained and conceded a penalty and from that possession Paul Rauhihi's loose pass and Clarke's two attempts at a kick somehow led to Stuart Reardon touching down.
There was no dispute about the first try of the second half, Rauhihi standing in the tackle to deliver the perfect short pass to Vinnie Anderson. Warrington were well on top by this stage and after Chris Leikvoll had seen a try disallowed, Bridge went over for a try to go with his eventual tally of five goals.
Ben Westwood was placed on report for a suspected elbow on Gallagher and Rovers got a try back through Kirk Netherton, but three in the last three minutes from Grose, Anderson and Rauhihi distorted the scoreline.
Copyright 2007 Independent Newspapers UK Limited
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