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 2nd half to make it two wins from 2 in Super League.
The Wolves, who were coming off the back of a blank weekend since of Hull Kingston Rovers' involvement in the World Club Challenge, seemed to have actually taken a firm grip on the game in the very first half.
Tries from Toafofoa Sipley and Albert Hopoate, in addition to the trusted kicking of Marc Sneyd, had them 14-2 up at the break.
Trinity, who chalked up their very first win of the season at Huddersfield recently, returned well as Jake Trueman remarkably created pursues Max Jowitt and Jayden Myers.
Wire responded as Australian beginner Josh for his very first try however Oliver Pratt's rating for Trinity established a nervy ending, with the outcome settled by Sneyd's drop goal and Toby King's late shot.
Wire provided more evidence that they could make a fist of challenging for honours this season as Sneyd gave a kicking masterclass and they had the defensive resilience to hold firm as Trinity came good.
Wakefield had actually won the previous 3 conferences of these 2, but they were soon in problem as Sneyd slotted over a penalty and after that video referee Chris Kendall reversed an on-field decision of "no shot" to give Sipley 4 points.
A few minutes later, Hopoate supported Danny Walker's break to streak away for another try for 14-0.
Wire appeared to have actually made a pricey error as they responded to strong Wakefield pressure right at the end of the half by devoting repeat offenses which saw Sipley sin-binned and Jowitt kick the resulting penalty to provide his side a toe-hold.
That became a firmer platform early in the 2nd half as Trinity used 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 led to Trueman developing an even better looping cut-out pass and Myers ended up to cut the lead to just four points.
That stimulated Wire into action after a drop in tempo and Sneyd's boot took control as he broke the ball out to Smith, playing first-rate rugby for the first time, to score his first try, which Sneyd transformed and after that added a penalty to give his side breathing space.
Pratt then got on completion of a great kick by Jack Sinfield to score in the corner and when Jowitt remarkably nailed the difficult conversion, the game was back in the balance.
Wakefield seemed particular to score as Myers spotted for the corner but 20-year-old full-back Cai Taylor-Wray, who wowed the crowd with his assaulting prowess against St Helens, produced a splendid tackle to bundle him into touch and maintain the lead.
Sneyd dropped an objective and after that broke another fragile kick to the corner for Smith to grab and pass in mid-air for King to eliminate any doubt.
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'A truly premium game'
"It was a really premium video game. Both sides were at 90-something percent completion.
"They were physical and we needed to ride out the first half but the game lost its method 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 attacked a little much better. There are locations we can look at where we can challenge a bit more and ask a couple of more questions.
"The method the video game is going, it will take teams eight to 10 weeks to figure it out, and it's the exact same with us. Our persistence was good at times and we were 100% in the first half until the regrettable 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