Round 17
Warrington Wolves 31 d. Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 12

2007 engage English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: United Kingdom > National > First Grade Competition: engage English Super League

Wolves back on winners circle
Mon June 18, 2007
Source: www.superleague.co.uk

Teenage winger Kevin Riley bagged two tries as Warrington Wolves eased the pressure on boss Paul Cullen with only their third win in the last 11 engage Super League and cup matches.

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats never looked like repeating their 30-24 victory over the Wolves at Belle Vue in March and conceded five tries.

Skipper Lee Briers, omitted from new boss Tony Smith's first Great Britain squad to face France on Friday, tormented the Cats with another impressive showing.

Warrington were still without Stuart Reardon, Martin Gleeson, Chris Bridge and Vinnie Anderson but Wakefield were also missing Jamie Rooney, although Danny Sculthorpe returned for his first match for two months after a shoulder injury.

Wakefield, fresh from victories over Catalans Dragons and Hull KR, came up against a fired-up Wolves side.

Man of the match Ben Westwood conceded a penalty against his old club straight from the kick-off when he charged into Adam Watene who was ticked off by referee Ian Smith for seeking revenge two minutes later.

Wakefield's half-back plans were further disrupted when Paul March limped off after only four minutes.

A Steve Ferres penalty edged the Cats ahead following a powerful Ricky Bibey burst with Oliver Elima, lining up for France against Great Britain on Friday, placed on report alongside Briers after an incident which left the Wolves skipper needing treatment.

But two tries in nine minutes gave Warrington a 12-2 lead with possible Great Britain debutant Jon Clarke finishing off a smart Brent Grose break and Briers converting.

Then Chris Leikvoll strolled through Sculthorpe's attempted tackle for another converted touchdown and Warrington would have been able to breathe far easier had Clarke been able to take Rob Parker's pass close to the line.

Wakefield hit back with a superb try to trail 12-6 at the break with Sam Obst sending Jason Demetriou clear and his shrewd crossfield kick was collected by Ned Catic who just beat Grose to the ball.

But Ferres missed the straightforward conversion and they fell further behind only three minutes after the restart when Henry Fa'afili took Briers' long pass for Riley to squeeze in at the corner.

Briers missed the conversion but then slotted over a penalty for obstruction to stretch the lead to 18-6.

Any hopes of a Wakefield fightback disappeared when Obst failed to gather Briers' kick and Grose accepted the gift on the hour.

Briers' conversion and 63rd minute drop goal put Wakefield further behind.

Briers then brushed past Richard Moore and Ben Jeffries to send Riley over for his second try five minutes from time, booting the touchline conversion for good measure.

Wakefield had to wait until a minute from time for their second try from Waine Pryce from Obst's kick.

Report source: www.superleague.co.uk

Article: Cullen has reasons to be cheerful

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