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 perky York Knights side in an electrical high-scoring encounter.


The 30-38 scoreline included 12 attempts shared between the sides, with a manic 40-point 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 try 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 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 conference between these two sides would be an extremely one-sided affair.


Stone, Thewlis and the outstanding Cai Taylor-Wray gave the visitors the ideal start with three quick scores, as the Wolves twice barged through the home defence either side of Taylor-Wray collecting a cool pass to go over in the corner.


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


Ben Jones-Bishop got the Knights on the board, before Denive Balmforth reviewed following wise hands from full-back Tom Mata'afa, who scored a shot of his own minutes later on to finish the turnaround.


The lead changed hands again minutes later, Stone scoring his second 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 knowledgeable Super League challengers. George Williams crossed to score before Currie brought up his century of shots for Warrington, from under the posts.


Still the hosts contradicted defeat, as Paul Vaughan, versus his previous side, and Liam Harris declared tries to bring the within two points of their challengers.


Thewlis repeated with 10 minutes to go, and Marc Sneyd transformed the additionals as the Wolves saw out success.


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


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'We expect much better from ourselves' - reaction


York head coach Mark Applegarth informed BBC Radio York:


"Fair play to Warrington, congratulations to them. They began really strong in both halves and we got caught.


"I was really proud of the spirit we revealed and how we got back into it, however 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 experiments with there.


"I thought we looked wonderful on the front foot, however the momentum shifts at this level are huge, and these groups can post some big ratings quite rapidly.


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