GOT 'EM LICKED (From Warrington Guardian)

GOT 'EM LICKED

Warrington Wolves 40

Sheffield Eagles 4

By CHRIS HALL

WARRINGTON powered to their best Super League win of the season so far with a convincing display that clipped the Eagles' wings.

On a day when the class of '74 were reunited to commemorate the club's last Challenge Cup success, the new pack of Wolves sank their teeth into Sheffield's heart leaving their Arkala, Darryl van de Velde, licking his lips.

The win will have further fuelled fresh optimism sweeping around Wilderspool as the Wolves quietly but forcefully defend a play-off place provisionally reserved for one of the more fancied clubs at the start of the season.

A strong forward effort led by man of the match Gary Chambers knocked holes in the visitors' defensive wall and stood proud to defend their line when needed, while the spritely backs fizzed into the gaps opened by their dominant colleagues.

Warrington broke the deadlock on 11 minutes when the impressive Scott Wilson ran across the face of the Eagles' defence and dummied successfully to winger Jason Roach to slice through a gap in the centres and go over for a try.

The difference was cut down to Lee Briers' conversion when Aston's perfectly timed ball to the racing Matt Crowther left the Wolves scrum half and Alan Hunte grasping thin air as he steamed in at the corner.

But the comeback was shortlived and after Mike Wainwright sent Toa Kohe-Love on a run through the heart of the defence, Wilson was at his shoulder to finish the move.

Next came the finest try of the game as slick handling combined with powerful running tore Sheffield apart.

Briers, who always looked a threat with the ball in his hands, fed the returning Jon Roper who crashed through a pair of tacklers to slip the ball to Hunte.

The centre sprinted down the left touchline before cutting inside to link with Lee Penny, who threw a basketball-style pass inside to send Ian Knott over for the score.

As half-time approached Roper extended the lead to 20 points, crashing over the line under two tacklers after Danny Farrar probed for a gap.

Despite the excitement and edge to the game wilting in the Bank Holiday sunshine, Warrington's endeavour and determination to keep the Eagles from landing another try remained in a professional second half.

A Briers penalty kept the scoreboard ticking over before the tries resumed on 63 minutes, when Simon Gillies' poor pass forced Hunte to kick towards the in-goal area from halfway and a cruel bounce that fooled Crowther rewarded the master poacher for chasing a lost cause.

Ten minutes later Hunte was in the action again, bursting through the would-be tacklers in midfield before off-loading to Roper whose lack of support forced him to go it alone and run straight through a dispirited Waisale Sovatabua at full back.

The rout was completed four minutes from full time when Briers slotted over a penalty for his eighth goal from nine attempts to cap a near faultless personal display and a solid win for the Wolves, who look increasingly likely to upset the applecart when the final cut for the top five is made in September.

DELIGHTED Warrington coach Darryl van de Velde praised his side's dedication after beating the Bank Holiday heat to notch up their highest home Super League win yet.

Speaking after Monday's mauling of Sheffield he paid tribute to his players' fitness levels.

He said: "I was really pleased with our effort especially in the second half when we really drained them. They gave us a couple of soft tries but I was pleased with the effort overall.

"We finished on top and we controlled the ball for long periods to keep them down near their own line which psychologically is very draining.

"Lee Briers came off his line for their try which was disappointing and I was really conscious at half-time that we didn't have to score, but had to work to keep the line intact and we did that really well."

He added that he was pleased with the performance of the returning Jon Roper, who has recovered from the hamstring injury sustained at Salford on Good Friday.

"Jon was really strong and really powerful. If we can get him fit and playing a couple of games back to back he could be a great player."

On-loan Andy Leathem's future at Wilderspool could soon be decided, and based upon the imminent return of injured props Danny Nutley and Mark Hilton.

Van de Velde said: "I will probably make a decision after we determine how Nutley and Hilton fare when they come back into the side and when we find out if they need surgery or not.

"Dean Busby played well today at prop but that's not his position, he's a back rower. He took the ball up strongly and tackled well but the pack's very light without Nutley and Hilton."

JONATHAN Roper successfully exorcised the memory of his last home encounter with Sheffield Eagles by snatching a brace of tries to open his 1999 Super League account for Warrington Wolves.

On Monday the Cumbrian returned from a spell on the sidelines nursing a hamstring injury to a repeat of last year's fixture which saw him break his leg, ending his season.

He said after Warrington's 40-4 defeat of Sheffield at sun-drenched Wilderspool: "I have got to be satisfied after scoring my first two tries of the Super League season. It's nice to get them out of the way and get playing again.

"There were one or two memories of last time but it's a totally different side now and I can put all that behind me.

"The hamstring felt quite tight in the warm-up, but I came back in and had a stretch and a rub. After that I felt okay."

This weekend, with Warrington travelling to Hull Sharks, memories will come flooding back to Jon of his last minute try at the Boulevard last season to secure a 32-28 Wolves victory!

"We have always had the play-offs in our sight and we have just got to get on with it and I know it's an old cliche but we have just got to take each game as it comes."

Wolves' Bank Holiday spectacular boasts top five promise

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.