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 endured a strong Wakefield fightback in the second half to make it two wins from 2 in Super League.


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


Tries from Toafofoa Sipley and Albert Hopoate, along with the trustworthy 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 produced attempts for Max Jowitt and Jayden Myers.


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


Wire gave further proof that they might make a fist of challenging for honours this season as Sneyd gave a kicking masterclass and they had the protective resilience to hold company as Trinity came excellent.


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


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


Wire seemed to have actually 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 give his side a toe-hold.


That became a firmer platform early in the second half as Trinity made usage of the extra male, Trueman slinging a fine 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 coming up with an even much better looping cut-out pass and Myers completed to cut the lead to 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 very first time, to score his very first shot, which Sneyd converted and after that included a penalty to give his side breathing time.


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


Wakefield seemed particular to score as Myers spotted for the corner however 20-year-old full-back Cai Taylor-Wray, who wowed the crowd with his attacking prowess against St Helens, produced a spectacular take on to bundle him into touch and retain 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.


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'An actually game'


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


"They were physical and we needed 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 just got a bit stop-start.


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


"The way the game is going, it will take teams 8 to 10 weeks to figure it out, and it's the same with us. Our perseverance was proficient at times and we were 100% in the 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