Warrington hold off London to close in on top two

Two interception scores took Matty Ashton to 100 career tries

Betfred Super League

London (10) 22

Tries: Rourke, Bienek, Davis, Tison Goals: Leyland 3

Warrington (22) 36

Tries: Tai, Ashton 2, Vaughan, King, Holroyd Goals: Drinkwater 6

Warrington bounced back to beat London Broncos and move within two points of the Super League top two.

Having lost top spot in their defeat by Hull KR last weekend, Wire led throughout but were made to work hard for the points by the stubborn Broncos.

Rodrick Tai, Matty Ashton, Paul Vaughan and Toby King all crossed for the visitors, with Josh Rourke and Lewis Bienek responding, as Warrington led by 12 at the break.

Adam Holroyd put Wire further ahead, but Sam Davis and Ugo Tison brought London back within six points before Ashton's 100th career try sealed victory.

Sam Burgess' side remain third as a ninth win in 12 cuts the gap to Wigan and KR, while London stay two points adrift at the bottom.

Warrington had put 106 points on London in two April meetings, but improving Broncos proved a different beast this time, buoyed by their battling win over Catalans last weekend.

Wire hang on as Broncos fight hard

Tai burst through a hole and stretched over the line for an early lead, and the visitors went further ahead when Ashton picked Ethan Natoli's pass and raced 80 metres.

Yet the Broncos had started well and quickly hit back through the in-form Rourke, who fooled Sam Powell with a dummy before bursting through for his fifth try in six Super League appearances.

However, the hosts continued to find ways to undo their good work, and turnover ball allowed Warrington to work their way upfield and Vaughan crashed over from close range.

Warrington were ruthless again after a spell of heavy London pressure went unrewarded, as Ashton broke from his own half to create a two-on-one and sent King away.

Bienek barged past Josh Drinkwater to cut the deficit to 22-10 - the very least Broncos warranted for their part in an entertaining first half.

Holroyd somehow got the ball down, with three Broncos clinging on, to extend the lead after the break, but still the hosts wouldn't buckle.

Sam Davis picked up a loose ball and dived over, and when Catalans loanee Ugo Tison picked up Rhys Kennedy's speculative offload and ran in, London were back in it at 28-22.

Drinkwater's penalty took Warrington out to two scores, but despite playing the final nine minutes with 12 after Kennedy's sinbinning for a high tackle, London mounted a late assault.

Yet summing up a topsy-turvy, enthralling encounter, Ashton raced away for his second interception try to bring up his century in the final seconds.

Post-match reaction

London Broncos head coach Mike Eccles:

"Hundred per cent frustration. I'm not sure about pride. There's effort there but the execution cost us the game.

"Three [mistakes] in the first half. The three tries that we butchered with our outside backs, you've got to take those tries if you want to beat Warrington.

"There were so many good things out there, but always compounded with negative stuff. We just gave them everything in the game.

"I'm not worried about it being a close game and competing. I'm not interested in that any more. I'm interested in us seeing the game through in all areas."

Warrington Wolves head coach Sam Burgess told BBC Radio Merseyside:

"London have improved a lot since we played them earlier in the year, so you have to give them credit for that, but we were way off today.

"The players are pretty disappointed with the performance but we got the two points, so I'm not going to overreact.

"We went through a really good patch, but it's human nature that sometimes it will waver, but we've just got to find our way through that.

"I'm happy with where we are - we've got six games left in the league so we'll just keep building now through to the back end."

London: Rourke, Kershaw, Natoli, Bassett, Miloudi, Leyland, Campagnolo, Butler, S. Davis, Kennedy, Lovell, Adebiyi, Stock.

Interchanges: Tison, Bienek, Jones, Parata.

Sin-bin: Kennedy (72).

Warrington: Dufty; Lindop, King, Tai, Ashton; Powell, Drinkwater; Harrison, Walker, Vaughan, Bateman, Holroyd, Crowther.

Interchanges: Musgrove, Philbin, Wood, Taylor-Wray.

Referee: Marcus Griffiths.