Warrington Beat Wakefield To Extend Winning Start

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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 survived a strong Wakefield fightback in the second half to make it two wins from two in Super League.


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


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


Trinity, who chalked up their first win of the season at Huddersfield recently, came back well as Jake Trueman remarkably developed pursues Max Jowitt and Jayden Myers.


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


Wire gave further evidence that they could make a fist of challenging for honours this season as Sneyd provided a kicking masterclass and they had the protective resilience to hold firm as Trinity came great.


Wakefield had won the previous 3 conferences of these 2, but they were quickly in problem as Sneyd slotted over a penalty and after that video referee Chris Kendall reversed an on-field verdict of "no shot" to give Sipley four points.


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


Wire appeared to have made an expensive mistake as they reacted to strong Wakefield pressure right at the end of the half by committing repeat offences which saw Sipley sin-binned and Jowitt kick the resulting charge to offer his side a toe-hold.


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


Sipley's first act upon returning to the field was a ruck violation which resulted in Trueman coming up with an even better pass and Myers finished to cut the result in just 4 points.


That spurred Wire into action after a drop in tempo and Sneyd's boot took control as he chipped the ball out to Smith, playing superior rugby for the very first time, to score his very first try, which Sneyd converted and after that added a charge to give his side breathing time.


Pratt then got on the end of a fine kick by Jack Sinfield to score in the corner and when Jowitt remarkably nailed the hard conversion, the video game was back in the balance.


Wakefield seemed 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 spectacular take on to bundle him into touch and retain the lead.


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


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'An actually top quality video game'


"It was an actually top quality game. Both sides were at 90-something percent completion.


"They were physical and we had to ride out the first half but the video game lost its method a bit in the 2nd half - [it was] not down to the gamers, it simply got a bit stop-start.


"In the very first half we might have assaulted a little much better. There are locations we can look at where we can challenge a bit more and ask a couple of more concerns.


"The method the game is going, it will take groups eight to 10 weeks to figure it out, and it's the exact 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