Warrington Hold Back 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 maintained their 100% start to the Super League season by holding back a perky York Knights side in an electrical high-scoring encounter.


The 30-38 scoreline consisted of 12 attempts shared between the sides, with a manic 40-point very first half.


Josh Thewlis and Sam Stone arguably made the distinction for the visitors, contributing a set of attempts each.


There was an unique minute for Ben Currie too, who scored his 100th shot for Warrington in the 2nd half.


The Wolves moved level with Wigan Warriors at the top of the table on six points, with York in ninth having actually won two out of their four video games up until now.


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 an extremely one-sided affair.


Stone, Thewlis and the remarkable Cai Taylor-Wray gave the visitors the perfect start with 3 fast scores, as the Wolves twice barged through the home defence either side of Taylor-Wray gathering a neat pass to go over in the corner.


Fifteen minutes later on, Warrington, incredibly, found themselves behind following a storming revival from the home side.


Ben Jones-Bishop got the Knights on the board, before Denive Balmforth discussed following smart hands from full-back Tom Mata'afa, who scored a shot of his own minutes 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 second half mirrored the first, as the hosts came out of the traps slower than their more experienced Super League opponents. George Williams crossed to score before Currie raised his century of shots for Warrington, from under the posts.


Still the hosts declined to accept defeat, as Paul Vaughan, against his former side, and Liam Harris declared attempts to bring the Knights within two points of their challengers.


Thewlis went over once again with 10 minutes to go, and Marc Sneyd converted the extras as the Wolves saw out triumph.


They return to action at Goole Vikings in the Challenge Cup on Saturday, 14 March, while York face Keighley Cougars in the exact same .


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'We anticipate better from ourselves' - response


York head coach Mark Applegarth told BBC Radio York:


"Fair play to Warrington, congratulations to them. They started truly strong in both halves and we got captured.


"I was really happy with the spirit we revealed and how we returned into it, but there were some important lessons for us in all of that.


"If you score 30 points in a game, that ought to suffice to win it, however I believed we left some soft attempts out there.


"I thought we looked fantastic on the front foot, however the momentum shifts at this level are massive, and these groups can publish some big ratings pretty rapidly.


"We're not here to be happy losers so it does sting a bit that we got ourselves back into the video game and let it escape us again. We anticipate 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.