Two -try Toby King delivered a regal display as Warrington beat Hull KR 20-8 to move into top spot.
The classy England centre marked his 150th Wolves game in style. His double helped Sam Burgess’ side storm into a 18-0 lead before he helped stave off a second-half Rovers onslaught. Both sides hold hopes of claiming a maiden Super League title this year and each knew victory here would put them into first, Rovers for the first time in the summer era.
They had beaten champions Wigan and St Helens in their last two outings to show their title credentials. Yet they looked anything but contenders as red-hot Warrington surged 12-0 up inside as many minutes. They targeted KR’s nervous right-edge who looked clueless working out which runners to pick off.
King, 27, led the way and Burgess, whose side face Huddersfield in the Challenge Cup semi-finals next Sunday, joked: “He was alright. He could have scored another. He’s consistent every game. He doesn’t miss much and he loves the club and his team-mates. He’s a great player.
"I joke around him a bit but I do love Kingy. He’s a great bloke, a good character in the group and I like him socially and professionally. He’s great to work with. I was happy for him. We were all in Kingy’s world first half! It was nice.”
Burgess added: "We scored some nice tries and asked a lot of questions. Those guys can play. I don’t try to coach them too much. They’re better than I was! But I’m proud of our defensive effort in that second half. KR are a great team and they challenged us big time.”
Josh Drinkwater gave space for King, a Grand Final winner with Wigan last year, to exchange passes with Matty Ashton for the opener. When England winger Ashton was sent haring for the line again, the only way desperate Joe Burgess could stop him was with a high tackle. A penalty try was awarded and the hosts could easily have been further ahead.
Ashton dropped a dolly and then Matt Dufty just failed to touch down Ashton’s kick inside after electric King had put him away once more. But King got his second and sixth of the campaign when Rovers’ defence got easily confused again allowing him to step over on 27 minutes. Josh Thewlis slotted a third conversion but the visitors gave themselves hope with their first chance of note four minutes later.
Kelepi Tanginoa bulldozed over England captain George Williams to offload for dangerous Niall Evalds who put Jack Broadbent in and leave them trailing 18-4 at the break. Rovers, who gave a debut to prop Jack Brown after his move from Hull, got their act together in the second half. They saw a Evalds try ruled out for a Ryan Hall knock-on and Thewlis also needed to be on hand to deny Jez Litten.
But the improving visitors did eventually cross again when Mikey Lewis regathered his ricocheted kick and scampered over on 51 minutes. But the England scrum-half again failed to convert and Wire held on, Thewlis slotting a penalty with the last kick of the match to complete a double over the East Yorkshire club.
Rovers badly missed captain Elliot Minchella who missed his first game of the season with a groin issue. They’ll desperately hope he’s fit for their own Cup semi-final against Wigan on Saturday. Boss Willie Peters said he will be OK but, on last night's game, he admitted: "We didn’t start well. We were still in the fight.
“But there were too many leg-ups and penalties and our defence was way off. That disconnection on the right edge is something we need to fix up in the week. I’m not sure why it happened.”