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 kept their 100% start to the Super League season by holding off a spirited York Knights side in an electric 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 perhaps made the difference for the visitors, contributing a pair of tries each.


There was an unique 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 six points, with York in ninth having won 2 out of their 4 games up until now.


With a quarter of an hour on the clock, it looked as though the first Super League meeting between these two sides would be an extremely one-sided affair.


Stone, and the impressive Cai Taylor-Wray provided the visitors the best start with 3 quick ratings, as the Wolves twice barged through the home defence either side of Taylor-Wray collecting a neat pass to review in the corner.


Fifteen minutes later, Warrington, exceptionally, found themselves behind following a storming renewal 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 to finish the turn-around.


The lead altered hands again minutes later on, Stone scoring his second shot to send out the Wolves in 22-18 at the break.


The second half mirrored the very first, as the hosts came out of the traps slower than their more skilled 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 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 repeated with 10 minutes to go, and Marc Sneyd converted the bonus 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 very same competition.


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'We anticipate much better from ourselves' - reaction


York head coach Mark Applegarth informed BBC Radio York:


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


"I was really pleased with the spirit we showed and how we got back into it, but there were some valuable lessons for us in all of that.


"If you score 30 points in a video game, that should be enough to win it, however I thought we left some soft tries out there.


"I thought we looked great on the front foot, however the momentum shifts at this level are massive, and these teams can post some big scores quite 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 avoid us once again. We expect 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.