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Rugby League

Briers drop-goal secures Warrington win

19/07/2008

Warrington have taken a firm grip of fourth in Super League with a tense 19-18 win over the Huddersfield Giants this evening.

In an evenly fought contest which saw both teams score three tries apiece, it took a late Lee Briers drop-goal to earn the Wolves a vital win.

The Giants led 18-6 at half-time thanks to a fine hat-trick from winger Leroy Cudjoe. But Warrington fought back in the second-half and tries from Simon Grix and Paul Rauhihi got them back in the game, before Briers was the only player to be successful with a hatful of attempted drop goals.

Huddersfield were in the lead inside two minutes as Chris Riley knocked on for Warrington, and this gave Ryan Hudson the opportunity to kick to the try-line and Cudjoe used his blistering speed to score the try. Chris Thorman kicked the extra two points.

A Chris Hicks penalty, which was awarded after Danny Kirmond was penalised for a high-tackle on Briers, got Warrington on the score-sheet.

But the Wolves then shot themselves in the foot as Kevin Penney and Hicks went for the same high ball and collided, this gave Cudjoe the chance to score a simple try. Thorman was again successful with the conversion attempt to make the score 12-2.

Warrington desperately needed to score the next try and that is exactly what they did. The influential Briers and Michael Monaghan created space for Ben Westwood and he slid in for the try.

More magic from Cudjoe saw the Giants extend their lead, as the winger twisted and turned from a number of tackles to crash in the corner to complete a memorable hat-trick. When Thorman also made it a hat-trick of successful kicks, Warrington had a mountain to climb.

Warrington came out fighting in the second-half and scored two tries in the opening 10 minutes to level the game. First Grix surged through two tackles to score and then captain Adrian Morley superbly off-loaded to Rauhihi to score. Hicks converted both tries to make the score 18-18.

The wet conditions saw players lose control of the ball on a number of occasions, and Huddersfield pair Kevin Brown and Martin Aspinwall both saw tries ruled out for knocking-on.

Luke Robinson and Thorman both saw drop-goal attempts go inches wide for the Giants, before Briers won the game for Warrington.

Meanwhile, in the other game in Super League this evening, champions Leeds Rhinos came back from 18-10 to beat the Catalan Dragons 37-24 in France.