Warrington Beat Wakefield To Extend Winning Start

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Warrington Wolves (14) 27


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


Wakefield Trinity (2) 16


Tries: Jowitt, Myers, Pratt Goals: Jowitt 2


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


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


Tries from Toafofoa Sipley and Albert Hopoate, along with the reputable 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 tries for Max Jowitt and Jayden Myers.


Wire responded as Australian newbie Josh Smith crossed for his very first shot however Oliver Pratt's score for Trinity established a nervy ending, with the result settled by Sneyd's drop objective and Toby King's late try.


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 defensive resilience to hold company as Trinity came good.


Wakefield had actually won the previous 3 meetings 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 provide Sipley 4 points.


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


Wire seemed to have actually made a costly mistake as they reacted to strong Wakefield right at the end of the half by committing repeat offenses which saw Sipley sin-binned and Jowitt kick the resulting charge to provide his side a toe-hold.


That ended up being a firmer platform early in the second half as Trinity utilized the additional male, Trueman slinging a fine pass over the top for Jowitt to score in the corner.


Sipley's first act upon going back to the field was a ruck violation which caused Trueman creating an even much better looping cut-out pass and Myers finished to cut the result in simply four points.


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


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


Wakefield seemed specific to score as Myers spotted for the corner but 20-year-old full-back Cai Taylor-Wray, who wowed the crowd with his assaulting expertise against St Helens, produced a magnificent deal with to bundle him into touch and maintain the lead.


Sneyd dropped an objective and then chipped another fragile kick to the corner for Smith to grab and pass in mid-air for King to remove any doubt.


Six-try St Helens thrash Catalans in Perpignan


'An actually high-quality game'


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


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


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


"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 perseverance was proficient at times and we were 100% in the very first half till 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