Warrington Beat Wakefield To Extend Winning Start

59 Comments


Warrington Wolves (14) 27


Tries: Sipley, Hopoate, Smith, King Goals: Sneyd 5 Drop objective: Sneyd


Wakefield Trinity (2) 16


Tries: Jowitt, Myers, Pratt Goals: Jowitt 2


Warrington made it through a strong Wakefield fightback in the 2nd half to make it 2 wins from 2 in Super League.


The Wolves, who were coming off the back of a blank weekend because of Hull Kingston Rovers' involvement on the planet Club Challenge, seemed to have actually taken a company grip on the video game in the very first half.


Tries from Toafofoa Sipley and Albert Hopoate, in addition to the trusted kicking of Marc Sneyd, had them 14-2 up at the break.


Trinity, who chalked up their very first win of the season at Huddersfield recently, returned well as Jake Trueman remarkably developed tries for Max Jowitt and Jayden Myers.


Wire responded as Australian newcomer Josh Smith crossed for his very first shot but Oliver Pratt's rating for Trinity set up a nervy ending, with the outcome settled by Sneyd's drop goal and Toby King's late shot.


Wire gave further proof that they could make a fist of challenging for honours this season as Sneyd offered a kicking masterclass and they had the defensive durability to hold company as Trinity came great.


Wakefield had won the previous three conferences of these 2, but they were quickly in difficulty as Sneyd slotted over a charge and then video referee Chris Kendall overturned an on-field decision of "no shot" to offer Sipley 4 points.


A few minutes later on, Hopoate supported Danny Walker's break to streak away for another shot for 14-0.


Wire seemed to have made a costly error as they responded to pressure right at the end of the half by devoting repeat offences which saw Sipley sin-binned and Jowitt kick the resulting penalty to offer his side a toe-hold.


That became a firmer platform early in the 2nd half as Trinity used the additional male, Trueman slinging a great pass over the top for Jowitt to score in the corner.


Sipley's very first act on going back to the field was a ruck infringement which caused Trueman creating an even better looping cut-out pass and Myers ended up to cut the cause just 4 points.


That spurred Wire into action after a drop in tempo and Sneyd's boot took control as he broke the ball out to Smith, playing top-notch rugby for the very first time, to score his first try, which Sneyd converted and then added a penalty to provide his side breathing room.


Pratt then got on the end of a great kick by Jack Sinfield to score in the corner and when Jowitt brilliantly nailed the difficult conversion, the game was back in the balance.


Wakefield appeared certain to score as Myers spotted for the corner however 20-year-old full-back Cai Taylor-Wray, who wowed the crowd with his attacking expertise versus St Helens, produced a splendid take on to bundle him into touch and maintain the lead.


Sneyd dropped a goal and then cracked another delicate kick to the corner for Smith to grab and pass in mid-air for King to eliminate any doubt.


Six-try St Helens whip Catalans in Perpignan


'A truly high-quality game'


"It was a truly premium game. Both sides were at 90-something percent completion.


"They were physical and we had to ride out the first half however the video game lost its way a bit in the second half - [it was] not down to the players, it just got a bit stop-start.


"In the first half we could have attacked a little much better. There are areas we can look at where we can challenge a bit more and ask a couple of more questions.


"The way the game is going, it will take teams eight to 10 weeks to figure it out, and it's the same with us. Our patience was proficient at times and we were 100% in the first half until the unfortunate sin-binning."


Warrington Wolves: Taylor-Wray; Thewlis, King, Hopoate, Smith; Williams, Sneyd; Yates, Walker, Byrne, Stone, Harrison, Currie.


Replacements: Sipley, Crowther, Philbin, Tanginoa.


Wakefield Trinity: Jowitt; Pratt, Scott, Hall, Myers; Sinfield, Trueman; McMeeken, Smoothy, Hamlin-Uele, Nikotemo, Vagana, Tevaga.


Replacements: Storton, Pitts, Faatili, Smith.


Referee: Liam Rush