Warrington Hold Off York To Maintain 100% Start
6 March 2026
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York (18) 30
Tries: Jones-Bishop, Balmforth, Mata'afa, Vaughan, Harris Goals: Richardson 5
Warrington (22) 38
Tries: Stone 2, Thewlis 2, Taylor-Wray, Williams, Currie Goals: Sneyd 5
Warrington Wolves preserved their 100% start to the Super League season by holding off a spirited York Knights side in an electrical high-scoring encounter.
The 30-38 scoreline included 12 attempts shared in between the sides, with a manic 40-point very first half.
Josh Thewlis and Sam Stone probably made the difference for the visitors, contributing a pair of tries each.
There was a special minute for Ben Currie too, who scored his 100th shot for Warrington in the second half.
The Wolves moved level with Wigan Warriors at the top of the table on 6 points, with York in ninth having actually won 2 out of their 4 games so far.
With a quarter of an hour on the clock, it looked as though the very first Super League meeting in between these 2 sides would be a very one-sided affair.
Stone, Thewlis and the outstanding Cai Taylor-Wray offered the visitors the ideal start with 3 quick scores, as the Wolves two times barged through the home defence either side of Taylor-Wray gathering a cool pass to review in the corner.
Fifteen minutes later, Warrington, incredibly, discovered themselves behind following a storming revival from the home side.
Ben Jones-Bishop got the Knights on the board, before Denive Balmforth went over following clever hands from full-back Tom Mata'afa, who scored a shot of his own moments later on to complete the turnaround.
The lead changed hands again minutes later on, Stone scoring his 2nd shot to send the Wolves in 22-18 at the break.
The 2nd half mirrored the very first, as the hosts came out of the traps slower than their more knowledgeable Super League challengers. George Williams crossed to score before Currie raised his century of tries for Warrington, from under the posts.
Still the hosts declined to accept defeat, as Paul Vaughan, versus his former side, and Liam Harris declared tries to bring the Knights within 2 points of their opponents.
Thewlis went over again with 10 minutes to go, and Marc Sneyd transformed the bonus as the Wolves saw out victory.
They go back to action at Goole Vikings in the Challenge Cup on Saturday, 14 March, while York face Keighley Cougars in the same competitors.
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'We expect better from ourselves' - reaction
York head coach Mark Applegarth informed BBC Radio York:
"Fair play to Warrington, congratulations to them. They started really strong in both halves and we got captured.
"I was really with the spirit we showed and how we got back into it, however there were some valuable lessons for us in all of that.
"If you score 30 points in a video game, that need to be enough to win it, however I believed we left some soft checks out there.
"I thought we looked fantastic on the front foot, however the momentum shifts at this level are enormous, and these teams can post some big ratings quite quickly.
"We're not here to be pleased losers so it does sting a bit that we got ourselves back into the video game and let it get away from us once again. We expect much better from ourselves."
York: Mata'afa; Jones-Bishop, Wood, Williams, Nofoaluma; Richardson, Harris; Martin, McShane, Vaughan, Field, Dee, Thompson.
Interchanges: Griffin, Balmforth, Va'a, Sangare.
Warrington: Taylor-Wray; Thewlis, King, Hopoate, Smith; Williams, Sneyd; Yates, Walker, Byrne, Harrison, Stone, Currie.
Interchanges: Powell, Sipley, Philbin, Tanginoa.