WARRINGTON boss Daryl Powell hailed Gareth Widdop’s “bravery” as his side eased “crazy” relegation fears.
Wolves had only won one of their last seven games, leading to talk of the drop. But they ripped high-flying Catalans to shreds 36-10 in the Magic Weekend heat to take off the pressure. It came at a cost, though, with England full-back Widdop dislocating his shoulder when scoring a third minute try.
Left in agony, he couldn’t continue and Catalans captain Ben Garcia also suffered a horror injury. The France loose forward was last night facing emergency plastic surgery on a ripped ear. On Widdop - who’s expected to join Castleford in 2023 - Powell said: “I'd be pretty certain he won't play again this year.
“It's really tough for him. He's one of the bravest players you're likely to see. It took about 10 minutes to get back in. He's in a lot of pain. We haven’t dealt well with adversity at times this year but we did today after what happened to Gaz. I was really pleased with the win. We’ve been in a real tough situation and people have been talking about all sorts like relegation which is crazy.
“But we’re looking up. The last thing we want to do is fall in love with ourselves and we’ve a couple of months with really tough battles. But it’s doable still reaching the play-offs.”
Catalans beat champions St Helens leading into Magic. But they lost Michael McIlorum, Sam Kasiano and Dylan Napa to bans from that victory and had others injured. Warrington got off to a flying start when Matty Ashton raced away to put Widdop over. But he had to stoop to collect the pass and hit the deck.
Clearly in pain, Widdop managed to stretch over but was in real distress. Young half-back Riley Dean came on with Stefan Ratchford switching to full-back and Warrington pressed on regardless. Samisoni Langi replied for Catalans, Sam Tomkins converting.
But Jake Wardle scored his first try for Wolves since switching on loan from Huddersfield. And, after Ratchford’s penalty, Matty Nicholson also powered over for a try on debut following his move from Wigan. Next, England captain Tomkins fumbled fit-again George Williams’ grubber to gift Ratchford a try meaning Warrington led 24-6 at the break.
When Josh Thewlis picked up a loose Catalans pass and raced 90m to score at the start of the second period it was game over. Tomkins responded for Dragons but wonderful offloading in the middle saw Williams race over. Wolves centre Pete Mata’utia was sin-binned late on but it didn’t matter.
Disappointed Catalans boss Steve McNamara said: “We’d plenty missing last week and found a way (to win). We’d a few more missing here but the game’s about the squad and the players today, we weren’t good enough. We offered Warrington too much time and space and got what we deserved. Our tackling was poor.”
On Garcia’s gaping cut, he said: “It’s nearly took his ear off. It couldn’t be stitched. We’re waiting to see what the plastic surgeon says.”
