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Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 30 Warrington Wolves 24
WARRINGTON Wolves were edged out 30-24 in a thriller at Belle Vue after throwing away an early second half lead.
Disappointed Head Coach Paul Cullen was quick to praise the Wildcats for their effort but was disappointed by his team's lack of composure. "We had the effort and the skill but laceked the composure," said Cullen.
"Ar 24-16 our compsoure was not good enough to secure the win. WE've come up with too many mistakes and that is what has cost us!".
Tries from Paul Fox, Ryan Atkins, Paul March, Waine Pryce, Ben Jeffries, and Tevita Leo-Latu made the difference for John Kear's men, who made life difficult for themselves in a dramatic error-strewn Super League battle. Having been on the back foot for the majority of the first half, Warrington responded and eventually took the lead through scores from Paul Wood, Henry Faa'fili, Chris Bridge and Jon Clarke. The Wildcats went ahead inside three minutes though Fox, although Warrington could feel it was a little unjust after Jason Demetriou appeared to be obstructing Paul Johnson.
Trinity reached double-figures inside 10 minutes after Ben Jeffries produced the perfectly-weighted grubber kick in behind the Wolves' defence, and Atkins timed his run to perfection to drop on the loose ball for 10-0.
Warrington pressure was building though as the penalty count rose against the hosts, and they finally made it pay as Wood showed good hands to reach over for a 10-6 scoreline.
But the Wildcats did extend their lead to 16-6 before the break, March capitalising on a loose pass deep inside the Warrington half that would have had Cullen pulling his hair out.
If Warrington were there own worst enemies for that score, Wakefield immediately gifted them a six-point return on the stroke of the interval as Brett Ferres crazily decided to run the ball from deep after the hooter.
He was promptly tackled and dispossessed deep inside his own half, allowing Henry Faa'fili to produce a cool finish for a 16-12 half-time scoreline.
Warrington emerged from the second half without the influential figure of Paul Johnson, who suffered a suspected a broken hand whilst delivering a hand-off at the end of the first period.
The setback did not faze the visitors though, who owned the football for the first six minutes of the second half, culminating in Chris Bridge's first try of the campaign. Following Jeffries' loss of possession on his own 20-yard line, the Wolves knocked at the door of the Wakefield defence, with Bridge eventually showing a good change of direction to reach over. He converted his own score to put the Wolves ahead 18-16 for the first time in the contest, and soon that lead was extended to eight points by the pacey Jon Clarke.
Jeffries again came under the microscope as his kick fell into touch, and from the resulting scrum Clarke raced away to score from halfway.
But within a minute Wakefield were back within four points at 24-20 as Atkins hacked on towards the left corner for Pryce - who dived over.
Jeffries then darted over for a 26-24 scoreline followed by Leo-Latu, who pinned back his ears to find the left corner to complete the scoring.
Wolves lack composure as
edged out in thriller
by Gary Skentelbery
WARRINGTON Wolves were edged out 30-24 in a thriller at Belle Vue after throwing away an early second half lead.
Disappointed Head Coach Paul Cullen was quick to praise the Wildcats for their effort but was disappointed by his team's lack of composure. "We had the effort and the skill but laceked the composure," said Cullen.
"Ar 24-16 our compsoure was not good enough to secure the win. WE've come up with too many mistakes and that is what has cost us!".
Tries from Paul Fox, Ryan Atkins, Paul March, Waine Pryce, Ben Jeffries, and Tevita Leo-Latu made the difference for John Kear's men, who made life difficult for themselves in a dramatic error-strewn Super League battle. Having been on the back foot for the majority of the first half, Warrington responded and eventually took the lead through scores from Paul Wood, Henry Faa'fili, Chris Bridge and Jon Clarke. The Wildcats went ahead inside three minutes though Fox, although Warrington could feel it was a little unjust after Jason Demetriou appeared to be obstructing Paul Johnson.
Trinity reached double-figures inside 10 minutes after Ben Jeffries produced the perfectly-weighted grubber kick in behind the Wolves' defence, and Atkins timed his run to perfection to drop on the loose ball for 10-0.
Warrington pressure was building though as the penalty count rose against the hosts, and they finally made it pay as Wood showed good hands to reach over for a 10-6 scoreline.
But the Wildcats did extend their lead to 16-6 before the break, March capitalising on a loose pass deep inside the Warrington half that would have had Cullen pulling his hair out.
If Warrington were there own worst enemies for that score, Wakefield immediately gifted them a six-point return on the stroke of the interval as Brett Ferres crazily decided to run the ball from deep after the hooter.
He was promptly tackled and dispossessed deep inside his own half, allowing Henry Faa'fili to produce a cool finish for a 16-12 half-time scoreline.
Warrington emerged from the second half without the influential figure of Paul Johnson, who suffered a suspected a broken hand whilst delivering a hand-off at the end of the first period.
The setback did not faze the visitors though, who owned the football for the first six minutes of the second half, culminating in Chris Bridge's first try of the campaign. Following Jeffries' loss of possession on his own 20-yard line, the Wolves knocked at the door of the Wakefield defence, with Bridge eventually showing a good change of direction to reach over. He converted his own score to put the Wolves ahead 18-16 for the first time in the contest, and soon that lead was extended to eight points by the pacey Jon Clarke.
Jeffries again came under the microscope as his kick fell into touch, and from the resulting scrum Clarke raced away to score from halfway.
But within a minute Wakefield were back within four points at 24-20 as Atkins hacked on towards the left corner for Pryce - who dived over.
Jeffries then darted over for a 26-24 scoreline followed by Leo-Latu, who pinned back his ears to find the left corner to complete the scoring.
Wakefield (16) 30
Tries: Fox, Atkins, March, Pryce, Jeffries, Leo-Latu
Goals: Rooney 3
Warrington (12) 24
Tries: Wood, Faa'fili, Bridge, Clarke
Goals: Bridge 4
