SUPER LEAGUE MATCH REPORT | Warrington Wolves 34-24 Wakefield Trinity
Tom Lineham’s Hatrick guides Warrington to a 34-24 win over Wakefield at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.
MATCH DETAILS
Warrington Wolves got out of the blocks and scored in their opening set, with Tom Lineham finishing off in the corner. Bryson Goodwin failed to add the extras.
The Wolves continued to apply pressure on the visitors, but Trinity held their nerve.
After some slick play by the away team, Reece Lyne fooled the Wire defence and found his way to the line. Liam Finn failing to add the extras.
The home side hit back when Lineham crossed for his second try of the game, with Goodwin adding the extras with the help of the posts.
Minutes later, after back to back penalties, the Wolves opted to take the two, which was converted by Goodwin.
Trinity stormed back into the game with two quick fire tries. First, after some quick hands, Bill Tupou was able to score out wide. Liam Finn failed to add the extras.
Tupou then broke through the Wire defence, finding a passing back inside to Jacob Miller, who set Finn up for a converted try.
On the hooter, Warrington were awarded a penalty just to the right of the sticks, however Goodwin failed to convert.
HALF TIME Warrington Wolves 12 Wakefield Trinity 14
The second half began just as the first one did, with Sitaleki Akauola making 40 metres, before Goodwin crossed in a fantastic opening set for the Wire. Stefan Ratchford added the extras.
Wakefield had chances but the Wire were stood tall in defence, with Jack Hughes putting in a heroic effort to stop Trinity on a couple of occasions.
Soon after, following a long pass from Ratchford, Toby King then came back inside, and weighted the grubber kick perfectly for Mike Cooper to score. Ratchford’s conversion extended Warrington’s lead.
Ben Murdoch-Masila then broke through the Wakefield line following a perfectly weighted pass from Tyrone Roberts, allowing the forward clear space to score his third try of the season.
Following on from a short kick off, Trinity hit back through Tom Johnstone scoring in the corner with Tyler Randall adding the extras.
Three minutes before full-time, Lineham raced 80 metres to finish his hat trick.
But it was Wakefield would have the final say in the game through Ben Jones-Bishop.
Tongan Thunder
The forward combination of Ben Murdoch-Masila and Sitaleki Akauola were key for the Wolves in this one. Both Tongans made key impacts off the bench, stopping Pauli Pauli from having an impact he had for Trinity. But the biggest impact the duo had on the game was straight after half time when Akauola made 40 metres from the kick off, which gave the Wolves the base they needed at the start of the set, which allowed Goodwin to break through the Trinity defence, and score on the left flank. BMM managed to make a big break of his own later in the match, but wasn’t stopped as he scored his third try of the season.
Lineham’s Hatrick
Following on from the signing of Josh Charnley, there was a possibility that Tom Lineham’s position was under threat. However after scoring twelve of his team’s 34 points it looks unlikely. The winger looks to be getting back into the form that he had in his final season at Hull FC, and if he carries on this form could be critical to the possible success of this better looking Wolves team.
The Flying Starts
The home team started both halves at 100 mph, scoring off both opening attacking sets. This is something that Wakefield coach Chris Chester alluded to, saying “we started the game really poorly and then again at the start of the second half when Warrington kind of put the game to bed.”
Coaches Comments
Steve Price had this to say about his team’s victory.
“Overall it’s a tick in the right direction, it’s the first time we’ve scored that amount of points this year so we can draw a lot of positives and confidence from that.”
Whilst Chris Chester, said this following his teams defeat.
“We had some really good spells, especially towards the back end of the first half and a decent spell in the middle of the second half.
“But we started the game really poorly and then again at the start of the second half when Warrington kind of put the game to bed.”
MAN OF THE MATCH
Although Ben Murdoch-Masila and Stefan Ratchford had brilliant games, my man of the match, has to be the hat-trick hero, Tom Lineham. Showing a big response after the signing of Charnley, he needed to have a big game, and that’s exactly what he had. The performance by the winger was outstanding and will give Steve Price a few selection headaches going into the Easter weekend.
THE RESULT
Warrington Wolves 34
Tries: Lineman 3, Murdoch-Masila, Cooper, Goodwin
Goals: Goodwin 2, Ratchford 3
Drop Goals: n/a
Wakefield Trinity 24
Tries: Lyne, Tupou, Finn, Johnstone, Jones-Bishop
Goals: Finn, Randell
Drop Goals: n/a
SQUADS
Warrington Wolves: Stefan Ratchford, Tom Lineham, Bryson Goodwin, Toby King, Mitch Brown, Kevin Brown, Tyrone Roberts, Chris Hill, Daryl , Mike Cooper, Jack Hughes, Ben Westwood, George King. Interchanges: Ben Murdoch-Masila, Joe Philbin, Sitaleki Akauola, Harvey Livery.
Wakefield Trinity: Scott Grix, Ben Jones-Bishop, Reece Lyne, Bill Tupou, Tom Johnstone, Jacob Miller, Liam Finn, Keegan Hirst, Tyler Randell, Anthony England, Danny Kirmond, Matty Ashurst, Justin Horo Interchanges: Ryan Hampshire, Pauli Pauli, Tinirau Arona , Craig Huby.
https://nothingbutleague.com/2018/01/20/2018-season-preview-warrington-wolves/
