Super League: Hull FC 30-18 Warrington Wolves – Josh Griffin hat-trick seals comeback win

Hull FC delivered an impressive second-half comeback to overcome Warrington Wolves in the final game of Magic Weekend at St James’ Park.

Warrington led at half-time, with Hull’s Danny Houghton replying to tries from Connor Wrench and George Williams.

That lead was wiped out and overhauled when Adam Swift and Josh Griffin, with two, crossed for the hosts, but the Wire replied through Wrench’s second.

Griffin completed a hat-trick to pull Hull clear before Tex Hoy settled it.

Since ending a run of seven straight defeats – against Wigan last month – Tony Smith’s Hull FC have bounced back in fine style to win three of the past four.

They have rediscovered their forward punch with Brad Fash, Chris Satae and Ligi Sao giving Jake Trueman and Jake Clifford a platform to scheme.

By contrast, Daryl Powell’s Warrington have somewhat hit the buffers, as their defeat by Leigh last time out was followed by another loss.

It took them some time to get into this one as Warrington showed their qualities early on with Wrench marking his return from a serious knee ligament injury with a wonderfully-constructed try out wide.

Williams pounced on an error in the backfield to add to their lead, but the Primrose and Blue failed to fully capitalise on their purple patch and Hull eventually found a way back.

Houghton plunged in after Warrington failed to deal with a chip to the in-goal before half-time, and Hull took full control.

Griffin barrelled in for his hat-trick as Hull punished Warrington’s left-side defence with a brace of punchy short balls and a perfectly-weighted kick.

Swift finished off a perfect kick from Clifford in a narrow sliver of space, while Hoy’s try was a delicious dance back against the grain providing a fine cap to the evening for the delirious Black and Whites supporters on the Leazes End.

For Warrington, Wrench’s second try from a slick, slicing move to the right, merely gave false hope they could mount a response that never materialised.

Some of their fans headed for the exits early as they ceded top spot on points difference to a Catalans side that thrashed Wigan on Saturday. Hull are in ninth place.

“I thought we’d get better and improve and I think we are doing that, but there are no guarantees.

“We are certainly better than we were a number of weeks ago. You can see a whole lot more cohesion with us now and those efforts are getting more rewards when we are all on the same page.

“Sometimes defending your own line can take the petrol out of you for the rest of the game but it did quite the opposite.

“It energised us actually and we were all ready to go in the second half. I thought Josh turned back the clock with having to use his speed to score tries. It was terrific and I was pleased for him.”

Warrington boss Daryl Powell:

“The way we started the first half was class, but the start of the second half was non-existent really,” admitted Powell.

“We’ve lost a bit of confidence at the moment and we’re working hard to get it back. We feel like when we fix up one part of our game another part is not quite there, and there’s a bit to do defensively.

“We’re on a straight line at the moment and we’ve just got to turn that line upwards.

“Teams have stepped right up against us and we’re not playing as well as we were, we’re conceding too many points and that has been reflected in the results. We know our game’s there but we just need to rediscover it again as soon as possible.”

Hull FC: Hoy; McIntosh, Scott, Sutcliffe, Swift; Trueman, Clifford; Fash, Houghton, Taylor, Griffin, Lane, Cator.

Interchanges: Sao, Satae, Savelio, Lane.

Warrington: Dufty; Wrench, Minikin, Ratchford, Ashton; Williams, Drinkwater; Dudson, Clark, Vaughan, Currie, Harrison, Mata’utia.

Interchanges: Bullock, Philbin, Walker, Green.