A DOMINANT second half saw Warrington Wolves establish local bragging rights with a 32-18 win over Widnes Vikings.

If that was the silver lining for Wolves coach Tony Smith, then the cloud was surely the serious arm injury sustained by his Widnes-born half-back Richie Myler.

If early indications are anything to go by it looks unlikely Myler will be joining Warrington on their pre-season trip to Australia.

The game itself was billed as a Boxing Day friendly.

In truth, there was little sign of seasonal goodwill between these two great rugby league rivals.

New to Super League in 2012, the Vikings gave notice in the first half they weren’t willing to be pushed around.

Warrington had the majority of the play early on and opened up a deserved 10-0 lead with tries from Rhys Evans and Matty Blythe.

But the visitors’ fighting spirit was soon in evidence as Scott Moore barged over from dummy-half and Thomas Coyle followed up his own kick to give Widnes a 12-10 lead.

Evans’ second try just before the interval restored Warrington’s advantage at 16-12 and preceded an all-in brawl which saw Moore dispatched to the sin-bin.

Smith’s Wolves reasserted their early superiority after the break.

Tries from Rhys Williams, Brad Dwyer and Ben Currie saw them establish a 32-12 lead before Danny Craven scored a consolation six-pointer for the Vikings.

Meanwhile, Bradford’s new signing Manase Manuokafoa will miss the start of the 2012 Super League season after picking up a serious knee injury in training ahead of the Boxing Day friendly defeat at Castleford.

The former Parramatta prop, signed as a replacement for Andy Lynch, sustained a ruptured cruciate ligament in the Bulls’ final training session before the clash with Castleford and will be sidelined for between eight and 10 weeks. In Manuokafoa’s absence, Bradford coach Mick Potter gave a senior baptism to 19-year-old front rower Johnny Payne against his home-town club as the Tigers gained a 28-18 victory in coach Ian Millward’s first match in charge.

First-half tries by new signing Josh Griffin and academy utility back Josh Atkinson helped Millward’s men to a 10-4 half-time lead.

Atkinson and Griffin both added further tries in the second half while another new signing, ex-Leigh prop Steve Nash, and young scrum-half Ben Johnson also touched down.