SAM Burgess declared himself pleased with how his Warrington Wolves side adapted to conditions in order to return to winning ways in Round 10.

Hull FC were beaten 24-6 at a wet and slippery Halliwell Jones Stadium, with winger Josh Thewlis running in a hat-trick of tries.

It allowed The Wire to rebound from their defeat at Salford Red Devils at the earliest opportunity and Burgess says his players “had more of a go defensively” than they had done against Paul Rowley’s side.

“I thought it was a pretty good performance considering the conditions and coming off a six-day turnaround,” he said.

“We’ve been going pretty hard for a while so I was happy we turned up physically.

“We played the conditions reasonably well although we made more errors than I’d have liked early.

“Defensively, we had a bit more of a go this weekend so I was happy with that.

“There was a bit more flow in the game tonight even though it was greasy out there.

“We saw more of a game of rugby league and they were good – they came with plenty of effort and they’re certainly improved.

“They were tough to break down and they will be much more improved as they go forward in the competition.”

Thewlis also kicked four goals from as many attempts in a match that also saw him spend time off the field in order to get treatment for a nasty-looking cut to the head in the first half.

He passed a HIA and returned to cross twice more after the break and be named as the player of the match.

“As far as wingers go, he’s pretty tough,” Burgess said of Thewlis.

“He’s one of the toughest wingers I’ve ever seen.”

Several players were brought into the Wire side tonight as Burgess rang the changes, with seven alterations made to the 17 that played at Salford.

Josh Drinkwater stepped back into the starting side following the long-term injury suffered by Leon Hayes, academy graduate Arron Lindop made his Super League home debut and Papua New Guinea international Rodrick Tai played just his third game for the club.

And Burgess declared himself happy with how all of them went.

“He's a pretty classy player – I saw pre-game that he’d played 250-odd games and you don’t do that if you’re not a quality player,” he said of Drinkwater.

“He’s been great through the week in terms of prepping the players and his attitude has been great.

“He’s only actually been fit for about a week – he had that quad strain then he injured it again in training right on the point of coming back, which put him out for another couple of weeks.

“We decided to bullet-proof him and give him more time than necessary to heal. I’m happy he’s stayed fit and he got the reward tonight.

“Arron Lindop is a pretty special guy.

“He’s not really been fit for seven or eight weeks – he’s not trained with us but we threw him in there and he didn’t get flustered with it.

“Rod’s stringing together a bit of fitness so I was happy to see him play.”

Burgess also confirmed that full-back Matt Dufty’s late withdrawal was through an abundance of caution after he took a knock to his ankle, while second rower Lachlan Fitzgibbon was withdrawn in order to give Adam Holroyd some game time.

He also affirmed forwards James Harrison and Jordy Crowther would return for Hull KR’s visit on Thursday with winger Matty Ashton also in with a shout, although centre Connor Wrench is “two to three weeks” away from returning from an ankle problem.