HUDDERSFIELD coach Nathan Brown sought to play down an alleged spear tackle by Michael Lawrence after a bone-jarring 14-10 win for Warrington.
Lawrence sparked a second mass brawl with his high and late tackle midway through the second half after Huddersfield’s Kevin Brown started an earlier punch-up just before the break.
Lawrence was let off with a warning by referee Ian Smith and Brown said:
“To the naked eye, I didn’t think the challenge was that bad. I thought a penalty would have been sufficient.
“There was no doubt that this was a physical contest against good opposition. Last year, we would not have done half as well in this sort of battle. It shows that we’ve improved as a team.”
Warrington coach Tony Smith said: “The game could have gone either way. We were in a battle last week against Wigan and it didn’t quite go for us. It was very pleasing to come out on top this time.”
SUMMARIES: Carnegie World Club Challenge Elland Road Leeds (4) 10. Tries: McGuire. Goals: Sinfield, Burrow 2. Melbourne (4) 18. Tries: MacDougall, Quinn. Goals: Smith 5. Att: 27,697 engage Super League Huddersfield (10) 10. Tries: Brown, Whaturia. Goals: B. Hodgson. Warrington (10) 14. Tries: King 2, Hicks. Goals: Myler. Att: 8,567 The Co-operative Championship Widnes (34) 72. Tries: Grady 3, Gardner, Thompson 3, Allen, Farrell, Coyle, Varkulis, Thackeray, Yates. Goals: Grady 10. Keighley (6) 10. Tries: Duffy, Moss. Goals: D. Jones. Att: 2,777.
SATURDAY: engage Super League Castleford (10) 20. Tries: Wainwright, Ainscough 3. Goals: Westerman 2. Hull K R (12) 24. Tries: Murrell, Dobson, Cockayne, Watts. Goals: Dobson 4. Att: 6,855.
FRIDAY: engage Super League Hull (12) 28. Tries: Fitzgibbon, Yeaman, Hall, Tickle, Horne. Goals: Tickle 3, Fitzgibbon. Harlequins RL (0) 4. Tries: Clubb. Att: 13,965 Salford (0) 0. Bradford (4) 7. Tries: Menzies. Goals: Orford. Drop Goals: Sykes. Att: 3,806 St Helens (6) 22. Tries: Lomax, Eastmond, Cunningham, Meli. Goals: Eastmond 3. Wakefield (12) 16. Tries: Morton, Millard 2. Goals: Brough 2. Att: 10,717 Wigan (36) 58. Tries: Richards 5, O’Loughlin, Goulding, Leuluai, Carmont 2. Goals: Richards 9. Catalans Dragons (0) 0. Att: 12,001
