Warrington 80 Keighley Cougars 0: Keighley run ragged as Atkins hat-trick leads Wolves home

Nineteen-year-old scrum-half O’Brien touched down for one of 14 tries for his hometown club early in the second half.

But England centre Ryan Atkins took the try-scoring honours with his first hat-trick for Warrington since signing from Wakefield two years ago.

The Wolves led 34-0 at half-time with Briers finishing with two tries and 12 goals.

Warrington’s biggest win in their history was an 84-1 Challenge Cup romp over York in 2000 with Keighley’s heaviest defeat a 92-2 loss at Leigh in 1996.

The Cougars’ hopes of causing an historic upset were dashed from the kick-off with Warrington sweeping ahead after only 67 seconds.

Matt King darted down the wing with Atkins racing over and Briers adding the conversion.

Keighley stubbornly held out until the 19th minute when Simon Grix latched onto Briers’s neat kick to stretch the lead to 12-0.

Cougars player-coach Jason Demetriou was left punching the ground in anguish after failing to stop Mickey Higham’s charge with the supporting Paul Wood adding a third try.

Mike Cooper, Atkins and Briers added tries before the break.

O’Brien scored almost straight from the restart thanks to smart play from David Solomona and King.

Atkins completed his hat-trick before Rhys Williams sped over before Hutchinson denied him a second from another teasing Briers kick. King joined the celebrations from an impudent Michael Monaghan chip to stretch the lead to 58-0.

Monaghan added the 11th try after 57 minutes before a mistake by Gavin Duffy allowed sub Rhys Evans to cross.

Briers converted his second try five minutes from time with a long range effort from Williams adding to the Cougars’ misery.

Warrington: Riley, Williams, Blythe, Atkins, King, Briers, O’Brien, Carvell, Higham, Cooper, Solomona, Grix, Harrison. Substitutes: M. Monaghan, Morley, Wood, Evans.

Keighley: Duffy, Sagar, Lawton, Baines, Hutchinson, Demetriou, Smith, Shickell, Feather, Benjafield, Cartledge, Pursglove, Shepherd. Substitutes: Wray, Barr, Law, Nicholson.

Referee: G Stokes (RFL).