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 back a perky York Knights side in an electric high-scoring encounter.


The 30-38 scoreline included 12 attempts shared in 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 attempts each.


There was a special moment 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 won 2 out of their 4 games so far.


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


Stone, Thewlis and the outstanding Cai Taylor-Wray provided the visitors the perfect start with three quick ratings, as the Wolves two times barged through the home defence either side of Taylor-Wray gathering a cool pass to review in the corner.


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


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


The lead altered hands again minutes later, Stone scoring his 2nd 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 raised his century of tries for Warrington, from under the posts.


Still the hosts declined to accept defeat, as Paul Vaughan, versus his previous side, and Liam Harris declared tries to bring the Knights within 2 points of their challengers.


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


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


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'We expect much better from ourselves' - response


York head coach Mark Applegarth informed BBC Radio York:


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


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


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


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


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