WARRINGTON Wolves’ Women are through to the semi-final of the Challenge Shield after an impressive 32-16 win against a strong Wakefield Trinity side.
Captain Megan Bragg led the way with an impressive defensive display, but it was Bethany Hayes who took the player of the match award with a try and two conversions to add to her defence splitting runs that troubled the Trinity defence all game.
Caitlin Miller also had a debut to remember with a try just before half time before then having to usher ducks off the pitch as Wakefield’s number nine Emily Buttery received treatment in the second half.
For Trinity, loose forward Annaliese Green had an outstanding game, running in a hat-trick of tries for the visitors which, at one point, looked like it might turn the game in their favour.
The Wire started the stronger of the two sides with the pack dominating, Bragg and Georgia Westwood impressing in the early exchanges.
But when Trinity were pinged a high a shot on full-back Hollie Gregory in the fifth minute, great handling saw the home side work the ball into a position where impressive hooker Emma Dwyer could force her way over by the sticks to open the scoring.
Gregory converted to make it 6-0 and, moments later, strong runs from Bragg through the middle and speedster Teneisha Fairbrother out wide led to a great kick through from Gregory which ended in a drop out from under the sticks.
Cue Hayes to cause havoc through the middle, offloading to Dwyer who returned then favour to send the second rower in by the posts on 10 minutes. Gregory converted to double the home side’s lead.
The visitors then took advantage of some sloppy play and indiscipline from the Wire to make inroads into the defence and fully deserved to get on the scoreboard when Green crashed over for Natalie Ward to convert and bring it back to 12-6.
There were further concerns when Wolves’ full back Gregory was forced off with a suspected broken nose, but with Hollie Brussles slotting in, Warrington’s defence proved strong enough to keep out the visitors despite some concerted pressure on their own line.
Wakefield were starting to dominate but a lengthy stoppage while Rebecca Colwell received treatment for what looked like a serious knee injury seemed to take the wind out of their sails and, moments later, Michelle Davis produced a sensational cut out pass to give Cailey Miller an open run to the line, extending the Wire’s lead against the run of play.
Hayes converted and then, almost from the restart, burst through the Trin defence to offload to Brussels to score under the sticks. The second rower made no mistake in extending the half time lead to 24-6.
The second half followed the same pattern as the first, with Fairbrother crashing over in the corner after 44 minutes to extend the leas then Trinity capitalising on some poor discipline and sloppy play to work their way back into the game.
Green scored her second on the hour mark then, after a mix up in defence from Warrington, grabbed her hat-trick that would have put the visitors within touching distance had Scarlett Hartley not missed the conversion from in front of the posts.
Despite the best efforts from Wakefield, strong defence kept them and the game was made safe in the dying moments when Kaitlin Hilton capped a fine performance by crashing over in the corner to seal a 32-16 win for the home team.
After the game, captain Megan Bragg said: “Considering that was our second game together, I thought we absolutely smashed it.
“We still have got a lot to work on but the positive was the scoreboard at the end so I was really impressed by how hard the girls worked today.
“Credit to Wakefield’s middles, they were absolutely outstanding and they were a credit to their badge – it was a very physical game from both sides.”
Head coach Lee Westwood said: “This was a tough, good game for us but the good thing is we were under a lot of pressure so really pleased we came away with two quick tries just before half time.”
