Warrington Wolves’ young full-back Kai Taylor-Rae impressed as he started the season with a 24-14 win over St Helens at Halliwell Jones Stadium.
In front of the stadium’s biggest crowd in 52 years, Warrington put on a show in the first half and St Helens were surprised by their attacking prowess.
This gave Warrington an overall lead of 18-0 at half-time, with excellent work from Toby King, Albert Hopoato and Kai Taylor-Rae. Mark Sneed scored two of the tries and added a penalty at the end of the first 40 tries.
St Helens fought back successfully in the second half with Jack Welsby and Tristan Sailer making the score 18-10, but the former suffered a suspected dislocated shoulder in the process.
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Kai Taylor-Rae set up Warrington Wolves’ Albert Hopoato for his third try in the Super League game against St Helens.
However, Warrington’s Josh Thewlis hit back to restore the home side’s two-goal lead, with Saints stand-in captain Jackson Hastings sent to the sin-bin for a late hit.
St. Helens got a late try from Kyle Feldt, but it was too little too late and they were down by 10 points.
While Sam Burgess got off to a perfect start under pressure, it was a tough start for Paul Lawrie in his first game for his new club.
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Taylor Rea scored Warrington Wolves’ second try of the night against St Helens.
Warrington made a good impression after Saints left the club with questionable defensive performance
It was a battle of attrition, with both teams performing well in the first 10 minutes at a sold-out 15,000-strong Halliwell Jones Stadium.
Then, from behind a forced goal-line drop-out, Warrington made good use of their area, shifting wide through George Williams, with King getting the better of Harry Robertson on the edge. Mark Sneed then scored a goal, giving them a 6-0 lead after 13 minutes.
Following this try, young full-back Taylor-Rae burst through the St Helens lines, turned on the afterburners and raced 70 meters to goal, with Snide converting again for a 12-0 advantage.
The wire was in dreamland and St Helens were at their peak when Taylor-Reay once again worked his magic, breaking through a desperate St Helens defense to score Albert Hopoate’s debut try.
Snide missed his tee shot, but when the Saints were penalized for accidental offside a minute before the break, the Saints rallied and gave the hosts an 18-0 lead at halftime.
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World darts champion Luke Littler was in attendance at the match between Warrington Wolves and St Helens and couldn’t resist cheering on them on the road.
At the start of the second half after Luke Littler’s Word Darts Championship Trophy Parade, St Helens had exclusive possession for the first ten minutes but were unable to convert their pressure into points as the home team’s scrambling defense was incredibly stiff.
In the end, after 13 minutes of almost pure pressure, the Saints thought they had finally gotten through as Welsby ran a great line over the top after a Warrington knock-on. However, as a result of the referee’s video check, it was ruled a no-try due to interference in the build-up.
Alex Walmsley thought he charged in from short range in the 57th minute, but his attempt was also nullified by a double motion.
On the third attempt, they finally popped out to far left and Welsby threw a dummy and slid in to bring the score to 18-4. But he ended up paying a price as the full-back nearly dislocated his shoulder in the process.
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Tristan Sailor scores another great try for St Helens in Warrington.
One, then two, and when the final big kick went up and went under the sticks, Sailor jumped the highest and Jackson Hastings converted this time, making the scoreline 18-10 with just over 15 minutes left.
Despite being hit twice in quick succession, Warrington were undaunted and got back six points on their first chance, playing the ball wide for Thewlis to perform some acrobatics in the corner.
Things then got worse when Saints captain Hastings was shown a yellow for a late hit in the build-up on Taylor-Reay.
Warrington thought they had clinched the win with a fine finish from Williams to Hopoate, but a tackle from the ball in the build-up saw their shot canceled out and St Helens, who found an overlap, got their final points on the scoreboard as Felt tucked in to make it 24-14.
It has been a more than satisfactory start to the season for Warrington, with St Helens having lost eight games in a row against their local rivals.
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Warrington head coach Sam Burgess reflected on Taylor-Rae’s game against St Helens.
Warrington head coach Sam Burgess said on Sky Sports+:
“We all know how talented Kai is. He’s a great young man and a pleasure to coach. It’s exciting, but there’s also a lot to work on in the game. He made a lot of mistakes tonight, but he’ll make them all year. And as a club we accept that. We’re happy to watch him develop.”
“I thought he was very good tonight. When we needed to come up with some plays, he made them. So I’m happy for him.”
“It’s completely up to Kai to find out what he’s capable of, what he wants to be able to do.
“Like most players, he has worked on himself throughout pre-season. He is very committed to his role and the huge responsibility of being a full-back in this team.
“He’s been in our system for a long time. We’ll continue to work on him throughout the year, but there are some great parts to his game that we really enjoy watching.”
St Helens head coach Paul Lawrie said on Sky Sports+:
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St Helens manager Paul Lawrie reflected on their side’s Super League defeat to Warrington Wolves.
“Warrington deserved to win because they were very desperate today.
“We were dipping our toes in the water defensively, which was a good lesson because it’s very different from the Saints. We might have been a little overconfident.
“Warrington came out to play, they were a more aggressive team, they did their fundamentals better than us and they got what they deserved.”
Sky Sports will continue to broadcast every Super League match live this season. Exclusively live, including two matches from each round, the remaining five matches will be shown weekly on Sky Sports+.
