After a strong start from St Helens, Warrington opened the scoring against the run of play through Dufty. The full-back crossed the line after a smart pass from Williams, after a desperate pass from James Harrison kept the attack alive. Marc Sneyd converted from close range to make it 6-0.
St Helens thought they had hit back when Tristan Sailor burst through to tap down a searching kick from Jonny Lomax as the ball reached touch, initially given as a no try. It went to a review, and the video referee confirmed the referee’s decision.
Three minutes before the break, Saints levelled through a similar move. Sailor again grounded a Lomax kick, but timed it better and the video referee confirmed it. Jon Bennison ensured the scores were level at the break with the conversion after regular kicker Mark Percival went off with a head injury.
Matty Ashton squandered a wonderful chance for a second Warrington try five minutes after the restart. After a superb break, he failed to square to Dufty and was denied by Jack Welsby. Sneyd did restore their lead minutes later with a penalty for offside, but it should have been more.
Both sides went close again as they traded blows. Joe Batchelor lost possession before reaching the line for Saints, confirmed by the video referee, before an Ashton try was denied due to a forward pass at the other end.
But on 54 minutes, Warrington finally scored a second try through Currie. Williams’ kick bounced perfectly for him to run through and touch down under the posts. Sneyd converted to stretch their lead to eight points.
It took only five minutes for St Helens to hit back, though. Clark crossed after a Wolves knock-on was picked up by Moses Mbye, and Bennison converted to make it 14-12.
With the game on a knife edge, it was fitting Williams had the final say, and in emphatic fashion. He jinked his way into space and drove down the right wing to cross, with Sneyd duly adding the extras to secure the win.
