Crusaders' King-size headache

Warrington surged to second spot in the Super League with a 46-12 win over Crusaders last night. Crusaders stormed into an early 12-6 lead but the Wolves rallied to record their fourth win in five matches this season with another top show from Matt King. King followed up his outstanding performance at Huddersfield last week by blitzing the Crusaders with two tries as well as setting up another couple, with Ben Westwood also grabbing a brace.

Tony Smith, the Warrington coach, saluted the Australian centre King. He said: "Matt was terrific both offensively and defensively. He bombed three or four chances and was still sensational. That shows how good he is. "He's in rampaging form but has been playing strong all year. "He caused problems wherever he popped up and a few opponents will be going home with Matt King headaches. Man-of-the-match King should have scored a hat-trick but spilled Chris Bridge's kick over the line seven minutes from time to end the Crusaders hopes of a third successive win.

In yesterday's other game Ben Fisher's late try gave Hull Kingston Rovers a thrilling victory over St Helens. The sides shared 10 tries in an evenly matched encounter but Kyle Eastmond could only kick two goals for the Saints while Micheal Dobson landed four. Wakefield coach John Kear labelled his side inept after they crashed to a 52-0 home defeat by Huddersfield on Saturday night. "It was a terrible performance," he said after his team's 10-try hammering. "It came out of the blue. It was very disappointing, very inept.

* With agencies