Warrington rout Bradford 42-4 at Bartercard Odsal to move up to fourth

Warrington Wolves beat Bradford Bulls 42-4 at Bartercard Odsal Stadium in a Super League match on 8 August 2026, moving the visitors into fourth place in the table.

With four of the top six sides winning earlier in the weekend, Warrington needed to follow up last week's victory over Castleford Tigers to keep pressure on the leaders; Bradford arrived without a win in nine outings. The result lifted Wire to fourth, six points behind Leeds Rhinos and four adrift of Wigan, with six games of the season remaining.

Warrington scored seven tries through Matty Ashton (two), Albert Hopoate, Toby King, Joe Philbin, Jordy Crowther and Ewan Irwin, while Irwin added seven goals. Irwin converted every attempt and extended his run of consecutive successful kicks to 15.

Bradford's Ethan Ryan opened the scoring with his 13th try of the Super League season on 14 minutes; Luke Hooley missed the conversion. Warrington responded as Ashton profited from Josh Thewlis's handling, Hopoate carried the ball and Ryan crossed for a second Bulls try, before King and an Irwin kick sent Wire 18-4 ahead at half-time.

A potential try by Bradford's Jamie Gill was ruled out after Chris Atkin pulled back recovering defender Danny Walker; within 60 seconds Joe Philbin scored at the other end to make it a potential 12-point swing. Crowther crossed six minutes later, Irwin added another after previous scores, and Ashton completed his brace to finish the scoring.

Eighteen-year-old Ewan Irwin and 22-year-old Leon Hayes combined effectively in the halves for Warrington, with kicking both out of hand and off the tee praised in the report. The weekend's other results noted in the match report included an eight-try Wigan win over Toulouse that moved Wigan into second, and Huddersfield thrashing Catalans to mark Dewsbury's move.

Team lists named for Bradford were: Aekins, Wynne, Holley, Fulton, Ryan, Dean, Atkin, Dean; Gardiner, Ackers, Gill, Sutton, Peposhi, Mellor. Interchanges: Doyle, Scurr, Lewis, Leake. Warrington's side read: Thewlis, Webster, Hopoate, King, Ashton, Irwin, Hayes, Byrne; Walker, Harrison, Holroyd, Bentley, Currie. Interchanges: Sipley, Crowther, Philbin, Tanginda.

The victory leaves Warrington fourth in the Super League standings, six points behind leaders Leeds and four behind Wigan with six matches remaining; England captain George Williams is expected to make his comeback in one of the next two games, a development the report said could strengthen Wire as they pursue a home play-off.