Warrington Wolves 64 Bradford Bulls 6: Four-try Atkins leads Wolves rout over sorry Bradford

The Wolves went into the game after losing their two-year grip on the cup following their quarter-final defeat to Wigan, but Tony Smith’s men bounced back in emphatic fashion with a comfortable success to again reduce Wigan’s lead at the top of the table to a single point.

Super League’s leading points scorer Brett Hodgson was once again to the fore as he finished with a personal tally of 18 points with two tries and five goals, while centre Ryan Atkins claimed four tries, Joel Monaghan grabbed a hat-trick and Matt King also crossed twice for the home side.

The Bulls could not have made a worse start as Patrick Ah Van put the kick-off out on the full which gave the Wolves the position for Atkins to crash over.

Three minutes later Bulls prop Bryn Hargreaves lost possession deep inside his own half and Hodgson and Richie Myler combined to send King over in the corner, with Hodgson converting.

Warrington increased their lead further when Hodgson’s blindside run allowed King to race clear and his inside pass allowed Atkins to claim his second try of the game. Chris Bridge converted.

Atkins then returned the favour for King to then claim his second try of the game to stretch Warrington’s lead to 20-0.

Warrington claimed their fifth try of the half when Atkins broke down the left and the ball was switched across the field, with Monaghan going over in the corner and Hodgson converting.

It took Warrington just four minutes of the second half to add to their tally when Hodgson’s dummy allowed him to glide through the Bulls defence to score and once again add the conversion to stretch the lead to 32-0.

Hodgson claimed his second try as he supported a break by Bridge to race clear and score, before Bridge sent Joel Monaghan over for his second try of the game.

Monaghan completed his hat-trick with a spectacular length-of-the-field try when he intercepted Marc Herbert’s pass and sprinted nearly 100 metres to make it 48-0.

The Wolves passed the 50-point mark three minutes later when King collected Paul Sykes’s kick and raced 60 metres before sending Atkins clear to complete his hat-trick and Atkins claimed his fourth try of the game on 72 minutes to stretch the lead to 58-0.

Michael Monaghan claimed try number 12 for the Wolves before the Bulls finally scored a consolation when Bridge’s pass was intercepted by Ah Van in the closing minute.

Warrington: Hodgson, J. Monaghan, Bridge, Atkins, King, Grix, Myler, Wood, M. Monaghan, Carvell, Anderson, Westwood, Cooper. Substitutes: Harrison, Higham, McCarthy, Blythe.

Bradford: Kearney, Ah Van, Sykes, Platt, Raynor, Jeffries, Herbert, Lynch, Diskin, Hargreaves, Elima, Whitehead, Kopczak. Substitutes: Scruton, Donaldson, Addy, Burgess.

Referee: S Ganson (St Helens).