WARRINGTON WOLVES 23-0 WIGAN WARRIORS
Former Wigan Warriors favourite Josh Charnley scored the 200th try of his rugby league career to knock his old club out of the Ladbrokes Challenge Cup thanks to a 23-0 quarter-final victory.
Charnley scored 164 of those tries in a glorious seven-year spell with his home-town club but his 14th for his new club Warrington Wolves might go on to become his most precious.
The Wolves opened the scoring on 12 minutes when former Wigan stand-off Kevin Brown crossed over before Ben Murdoch-Masila added a second and Charnley dived over at the corner for his landmark try on the brink of half-time.
Wire beat Wigan CCup 2018
Harvey Livett, whose first conversion attempt struck the top of the right-hand upright and was waved away by the touch judges, found his accuracy to extend his side’s lead to 16-0 at the break.
With both defences well on top, Warrington extended their lead with a late Bryson Goodwin penalty and a Tyrone Roberts drop goal before substitute Dec Patton scored a last-second try.
Warrington coach Steve Price said: “It was our best performance to date. I thought in the first 40 minutes we put them under a lot of pressure with our defence. That’s what we pride ourselves on, working hard for each other.
“They didn’t look like scoring, we were outstanding throughout the whole game. It was a great win against a quality football team. The energy and intensity from start to finish was first class.”
Wigan coach Shaun Wane said: “We’re professionals and we have to deal with these things. We have to dust ourselves down and carry on. The players are hurting badly. We were way below what we expect.
“We got beaten in every facet of rugby league. That’s not like a Wigan team I coach and I’m really disappointed, especially with the importance of the game. They wanted it more, they were by far the better team. We weren’t at the races.”