A spirited start from the visitors and a lethargic response from Warrington, which drew a furious response from coach Callander, saw the home team 12 points behind in as many minutes’ courtesy of two tries from Bolton.

Warrington began to respond with a little more urgency but it was not till the twenty second minute that middle rower Josh Downes pulled one back for Warrington building on an excellent break from centre Jamie Hartill. 5-12.This resurgence did not last, however, as from the restart Bolton twice crossed the Warrington line and only desperate tackles, first from scrum-half Ollie Hudson and then from winger Luke Turner prevented the ball being grounded. Nevertheless, Bolton prevailed in the thirtieth minute crossing the Warrington line wide on their right finishing a good sequence of play through their hard running, cohesive back division, an excellent conversion followed. 5-19.

Committed effort from Will Morgan earned the middle rower Warrington’s next score under the posts making the most of the previous efforts by Bennett and Whalley. With a JP Hudson conversion and penalty from the same boot on the stroke of half-time, Warrington trailed by four points at the interval.

HT 15-19

A brilliant take by Downes from the Warrington restart was quickly fed to Matt Beeley, now at standoff. His perfect cross kick deep to the Bolton corner was chased down by Hartill for a try. Converted by Hudson this put Warrington in the lead for the first time but this was short lived.22-19

Although a long clearance kick put the ball deep into the Bolton half, a lacklustre, uncoordinated chase was no answer to Bolton’s confident running and the visitors recorded their bonus point try under the posts. 22-26.

Having won a line-out just outside the Bolton 22, Warrington seemed to be all set for their fourth try as the subsequent driving maul trundled inexorably toward the Bolton line. Unfortunately, Warrington had failed to notice that this was not, in fact, a maul, as Bolton had failed to engage and so won a penalty for what was a truck and trailer operation. Bolton took the penalty quickly, the penalty taker was impeded in his chase, winning Bolton a penalty where the ball landed and Warrington a yellow card. Bolton added the 3 points. 22-29.

With some fifteen minutes to go Turner collected a kick on his own 22. Speed, determination and some forceful handoffs took him up to the Bolton 22 where some last ditch Bolton defence met the disapproval of the ref and resulted in a penalty for Warrington. Centre Kyle Cherrett received the ball from a quick short penalty and his trademark forceful running did the rest. 27-29

Warrington were still behind but at last seemed to appreciate that high tempo rugby was required 100% of the time. A good combination from Cherrett and winger Turner put Bolton under pressure on their 10m line, earning Warrington a penalty. Although this was not successful, another one just a minute later was slotted by Hudson to put Warrington in front. 30-29

With five minutes to go another Cherrett Turner combination laid the foundation for a try by captain Danny Fleming, Hudson converted, 37-29, which deprived the visitors of a losing bonus point, and with two minutes to go some elusive side-stepping by Beeley opened the way for Morgan’s second try under the posts, conversion Hudson.

FT 44-29

Three tries in the last frenetic fifteen minutes of the game more than compensated for Warrington’s lethargic start but this will not be a game plan coaches or supporters will like to encourage.

Report by Roy Potts WRUFC