Brown makes the difference as Wolves finally find the class to break Broncos’ resistance

Class eventually prevailed at the Trailfinders Sports Ground as Warrington Wolves came from behind to defeat a spirited London Broncos 40-38 in the Super 8s Qualifiers.

Both sides scored eight tries and the Broncos had a 14-0 lead early on, but last year’s Grand Final runners-up battled back and hung onto the win by the skin of their teeth after moving ahead.

Kevin Brown scored a pair of tries for the victors, while Declan Patton kicked six goals, helping Warrington overcome a Jarrod Sammut hat-trick.

If the hosts were to get anything from proceedings, they knew an early score would be sorely needed and they got it after Rhys Williams broke 50 metres to get the Broncos into Wolves territory before the ball was spread right for Kieran Dixon to dive over with two minutes gone. Wales international Williams then found space on the left and darted over to make it 8-0 after a penalty against Wolves helped their opponents up the field and when Sammut finished off a neat move between himself and Eddie Battye, the Broncos found themselves 14-0 ahead.

Wolves did not look stunned, but were certainly aware of a battle as the Broncos’ defence also held firm.

However, the visitors finally broke through 12 minutes before half-time as Patton’s cross-field kick evaded Dixon’s leap and was latched onto by Tom Lineham in the corner. Broncos did all they could to keep Wolves from breaking through again, but with less than a minute to go, the visitors bagged a converted try as George King managed to wiggle over the line.

Momentum was going the way of Wolves and this continued early in the second half as Peta Hiku scored for the third consecutive game, completing a scrappy move which needed the video referee to review.

Patton’s conversion gave Wolves the lead for the first time with 34 minutes left. From here, the visitors seemed to be in cruise control on course for their seventh straight victory with Brown securing the next converted score before Stefan Ratchford’s break let in Patton under the posts and Ben Westwood crashed over.

By now it looked like the game was up for Broncos, but Sammut did give the home fans some semblance of hope when he scored his second with 62 minutes gone.

Brown won a foot race to dive down on a Matty Russell kick, with Patton’s conversion making it 40-20, but the Broncos came roaring back with Sammut completing his hat-trick before Andy Ackers spun his way over to make it 40-32.

A blockbuster finale was then set up with only three minutes remaining when Dixon sprinted from the halfway line to score. Sammut converted to make the deficit just two, but Wolves kept them out in the dying stages.