Connor Wrench says he now has the confidence to believe he can be a Warrington star.
The stylish centre, 22, has always shown plenty of potential since debuting for his hometown club in 2020. A previous captain of the England Academy side, he went on to make a try-scoring appearance for England Knights the following year. But Wrench, who missed nine months of action after a nasty ACL injury in August 2022, has not always nailed down a spot in the Wolves side.
However, he has started to do that this term under Sam Burgess, largely keeping club legend Stefan Ratchford and Papuan signing Rodrick Tai on the sidelines. Wrench was impressive again as Warrington produced a season-best win yesterday, dumping St Helens out of the Challenge Cup with a thrilling 31-8 success at their arch-rivals to set up a semi-final date with Huddersfield.
He scored his third try in six appearances as the Wolves - just two points off top spot - continued their renaissance under Burgess with a brilliant spell of 24 unanswered second half points. Wrench admitted: “It was massive. Obviously, every time you come to Saints it’s always a tough game. That first half was a grind but the second half, to do what we did, is a great credit to how we’ve turned a corner this year.
“We are solid. That’s the stuff we want to go after. We’ve got the players to pull it off when we want to go fancy. But, especially when you go up against the big teams like Wigan and Saints, you have got to do the gritty stuff and that’s where we’ve improved.”
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Warrington certainly seem to have got rid of their weak underbelly since Burgess took the helm in the off-season. And Wrench, like many in their ranks, has discovered a new-found confidence under the former England superstar. He said: “I’ve been around a few years now and have the experience to prove that I want to be a starting centre in this first team.
Warrington Wolves' Connor Wrench (centre) tackled by St Helens' John Bennison (left) and Jack Welsby (right) during the Betfred Challenge Cup quarter-final (PA)“I have to keep performing as with the players and systems we’ve got, it’s pretty easy when we produce performances like that. I have had some nasty injuries. But it’s just part of the game. Everyone goes through them. It’s just how you bounce back.
“For me, the last couple of years it’s always been a personal confidence thing. But with Sam [Burgess] and people around me, I’ve got that belief in myself now and I’ve just got to back myself. That’s what I’ve been doing and luckily we’ve been getting some good performances individually on the pitch.”
Wrench, who has scored 16 tries in 37 games spanned across his Wire career, added: “Sam’s massive for us. You watch him as a player, he’s pretty similar as a coach: he’s got that drive and the way he inspires you. He just says if you make a mistake, it doesn’t matter. Next job. He lets you have that bit of freedom and it’s showing in performances.”
St Helens' Jack Welsby tackled by Warrington Wolves' Matty Nicholson and Connor Wrench during the Betfred Challenge Cup quarter-final (PA)Warrington return to Super League with Saturday’s visit of Leigh, the injury-hot Cup holders who were knocked out by Hull KR on Saturday and have won just twice all year. Wrench insisted: “We played them in Joe Philbin’s testimonial and they got one over us in that so we’ll be looking for some revenge.
"They are a quality side. They got beat at the weekend so they’ll be wanting to turn that around us but we want to carry on this streak we’ve got going. We’re looking forward to it.”
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