WARRINGTON WOLVES 16 WAKEFIELD TRINITY 30
DAVE PARKINSON, Halliwell Jones Stadium, Sunday
DARYL POWELL made a winning return to Warrington as his Wakefield side underlined their credentials with a hard-working performance in which Liam Hood, Max Jowitt and Mike McMeeken were stand-outs.
This was the Trinity coach’s first encounter with the Wolves since his hugely disappointing year-and-a-half stint at the Halliwell Jones Stadium came to an end in 2023.
A three-try spell at the start of the second half ensured their second victory of the season, while it’s now back-to-back defeats for Powell’s successor, Sam Burgess, following a heavy loss in Las Vegas.
Warrington started well enough and led within three minutes as, after holding Paul Vaughan up in-goal, Wakefield were powerless to stop Arron Lindop after he leapt to ground a kick wide from George Williams.
This was a tactic that the hosts repeated throughout the first half, though not always with success.
Wakefield’s first opportunity came when Mason Lino got over the line from Jake Trueman’s pass, but after closer inspection video referee Tom Grant ruled that he didn’t ground the ball.
A Dan Russell error saw Trinity return to the attack and after Matty Russell was stopped in the right corner, Max Jowitt fired an accurate kick behind the defence and Jack Croft raced through to touch down in the 18th minute.
Jowitt goaled to make it 4-6 and Wakefield almost had another score four minutes later when good defence held Isaiah Vagana at bay.
Warrington responded in the 25th minute when Alfie Johnson ran in from 20 metres off a Williams pass left for a debut try.
Josh Thewlis converted but when Warrington lost the ball at the restart, Wakefield made them pay with a try out of dummy-half by Hood.
Jowitt goaled to hand the lead back to the visitors at 10-12, which is how it remained until half-time despite Johnson coming close to scoring again, only to lose the ball under pressure from an all-or-nothing Russell tackle having leapt highest for the kick.
Four minutes into the new half, Sam Powell saw a score disallowed and Wakefield hit back when Oliver Pratt broke from deep and Jowitt put Russell over to extend the visitors’ advantage.
Jowitt converted superbly to make it 10-18 and the fullback created havoc with a cross-field kick moments later, but Warrington received a penalty after Russell was adjudged to have impeded Johnson.
Trinity continued their momentum when Hood shot forward and Matty Storton supported at pace to fly free from 20 metres for their fourth try after 54 minutes. Jowitt added his fourth goal to stretch their advantage to 14 points.
More sprightly work around dummy-half saw Hood send Caleb Hamlin-Uele over from close range on the hour and Jowitt’s fifth goal made it 10-30 in the visitors’ favour.
A Thewlis converted score with a quarter of an hour remaining gave Warrington hope, but Wakefield were fully deserving of their win.
GAMESTAR: Liam Hood was commanding, his distribution leading to two tries in addition to poaching one for himself.
GAMEBREAKER: Back-to-back tries to the visitors at the start of the second half saw Wakefield take control.
HIGHLIGHT REEL: Matty Russell’s try, on the back of outstanding work from Oliver Pratt and Max Jowitt, lit up the game.
ALBERT GOLDTHORPE POINTS
3 pts Liam Hood (Wakefield)
2 pts Max Jowitt (Wakefield)
1 pt George Williams (Warrington)
MATCHFACTS
WOLVES
23 Cai Taylor-Wray
2 Josh Thewlis
33 Arron Lindop
4 Rodrick Tai
31 Alfie Johnson (D)
6 George Williams
19 Stefan Ratchford
8 James Harrison
9 Danny Walker
10 Paul Vaughan
11 Ben Currie
26 Dan Russell
13 Luke Yates
Subs (all used)
14 Sam Powell
15 Joe Philbin
17 Jordy Crowther
21 Adam Holroyd
18th man (not used)
18 Oli Leyland
Also in 21-man squad
1 Matt Dufty
12 Lachlan Fitzgibbon
16 Zane Musgrove
Tries: Lindop (3), Johnson (25), Josh Thewlis (65)
Goals: Josh Thewlis 2/3
TRINITY
1 Max Jowitt
24 Matty Russell
19 Oliver Pratt
4 Corey Hall
5 Tom Johnstone
6 Jake Trueman
20 Mason Lino
17 Matty Storton
9 Liam Hood
15 Caleb Hamlin-Uele
18 Isaiah Vagana
25 Jack Croft
8 Mike McMeeken
Subs (all used)
16 Renouf Atoni
21 Mathieu Cozza
28 Harvey Smith
31 Caius Faatili
18th man (not used)
7 Oliver Russell
Also in 21-man squad
2 Lachlan Walmsley
13 Jay Pitts
30 Jayden Myers
Tries: Croft (18), Hood (28), M Russell (46), Storton (54), Hamlin-Uele (60)
Goals: Jowitt 5/5
SCORING SEQUENCE: 4-0, 4-6, 10-6, 10-12; 10-18, 10-24, 10-30, 16-30
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Wolves: George Williams; Trinity: Liam Hood
Penalty count: 2-3
Half-time: 10-12
Referee: Marcus Griffiths
Attendance: 10,024
