Ratchford ‘gutted’ to miss first-class kicking record
Warrington Wolves head coach Sam Burgess admitted Stefan Ratchford would be “gutted” after he missed the chance to break the first-class record for successive kicks in their 58-4 win over London Broncos in the Super League.
Ratchford converted his 41st successive attempt, breaking the Super League record, before missing the chance to make more history. The stand-off dazzled at Cherry Red Records Stadium and scored the final try of the match to round off a dominant display.
“He’s a great kicker, he’ll be pretty disappointed with the one he missed,” Burgess said.
“It’s not like Stef. He practises hard, he’ll be gutted with not kicking the 42nd one but he’ll be happy with the other 41.
“I loved Stef ’s courage to take all the kicks which is why it’s funny he missed the one in front of the posts almost. He’s a great team player. We are all right behind him. It’s an exceptional record, it’s not easy to do that. I’m gutted for him that he missed the last one.”
Burgess hailed his side’s clinical display in which Josh Thewlis and Matt Dufty claimed hat-tricks.
“I was happy with the team tonight considering the players we had missing in key positions,” he added.
“I think we did the basics really well, especially early in the game. The first 10 to 15 minutes were really clinical and then we just got into a good rhythm. London are a tough team and thankfully we have players who can find space. We took all our chances today and we didn’t leave a lot out there and that’s the difference really.”
Hakim Miloudi scored the only try for London, whose dismal start to the season continued as they search for their first points of the campaign. They never recovered from going 18-0 down in 15 minutes, Adam Holroyd scoring twice and Thewlis opening his account.
Broncos head coach Mike Eccles believes the defeat was his side’s worst performance of the season, highlighting his team are struggling to adjust to the physical nature of the top flight.
“In areas it was probably the worst we’ve been and they were really good,” Eccles said.
“It’s the physicality which we are struggling with and size, being able to contain them. We’re being compromised a lot at the minute.”