Wolves up and running

Chris Riley, left, grabbed himself a try for Warrington

4 February 2013

A stunning first-half display by Super League favourites Warrington Wolves saw them kick off their 2013 campaign with a 40-24 victory over Castleford Tigers at the Halliwell Jones stadium.

The Wolves exploded out of the blocks and scored four tries in the opening 13 minutes through Chris Riley, Ryan Atkins, Rhys Evans and Richie Myler with Brett Hodgson landing three conversions to open up a 22-0 lead.

Further first-half tries from Ben Westwood and Garreth Carvell, both goaled by Hodgson, saw the Wolves extend their lead to 34-12 at half-time. The Tigers produced a much-improved second-half display and restricted the home side to just a further score from Westwood but the damage had been done in the opening exchanges.

Castleford scored second-half tries through Richard Owen and Jake Webster to add to first-half scores from Justin Carney and Michael Shenton with Jamie Ellis landing four goals.

Francis Cummins enjoyed a dream start to his role of head coach as new-look Bradford beat Wakefield 40-6 at the Provident Stadium.

Jamie Foster, Matty Blythe and Adam Sidlow all scored tries on debut as the Bulls, embarking on a re-building phase after almost going under last year, dominated the West Yorkshire derby from start to finish.

Foster, a specialist winger filling in at full-back, also kicked six goals from seven attempts to finish with a 16-point haul, while man of the match Jarrod Sammut helped offset the absence of the injured Luke Gale at scrum-half with a brace of opportunist tries.

Steve Menzies scored a brace of tries and Zeb Taia, Jason Baitieri, Jamal Fakir and Brent Webb also crossed as Laurent Frayssinous started his Super League coaching career with a win as his Catalan Dragons beat Hull KR 32-24 at MS3 Craven Park.

Stefan Marsh guided Widnes to an impressive 28-14 victory over the London Broncos as the Vikings got their Super League campaign off to the perfect start.

Marsh scored two of the visitors' five tries and was an impressive presence throughout as Denis Betts' men triumphed in the capital.