Brown leads Wolves to win over Broncos

WARRINGTON breathed new life into the Dacia World Club Series with a magnificent performance to beat Wayne Bennett’s Brisbane Broncos 27-18 at a euphoric Halliwell Jones Stadium.

The Broncos, who had beaten Wigan in each of the previous two years, were the only NRL club willing to join champions Cronulla on the trip to England as Australian interest in the expanded series waned following one-sided matches in 2016.

But the Wolves, who pushed St George Illawarra close two years ago, proudly flew the flag for Super League with a first win in seven.

Leeds’ World Club Challenge win over Manly five years earlier had been the last time a northern hemisphere side had beaten one of their NRL counterparts, and Super League clubs had lost all six matches since the expanded World Club Series began in 2015.

The hero for Warrington was former Giants captain Kevin Brown, who was named man of the match for a superb debut in front of England head coach Bennett in a World Cup year.

Brown scored the game’s first try and provided Warrington with the game management they sorely lacked in their defeat by Catalans Dragons in their Super League opener.

The Wolves were still without six senior players through injury, including skipper Chris Hill, but it hardly mattered as they rattled their star-studded opponents with some aggressive defence and produced some exciting plays to score four tries to three to delight the 12,082 crowd.

Warrington prop Ashton Sims said after the game: “We wanted to get Super League off to a good start. Not too many people gave us a chance but we know the belief in our squad and it was good to put a good performance out.

“I felt like our ball control was good, especially in that first 20 minutes, and our kicking game was great. That’s a great way to kick-start our year.”