'Vue' to

Wakefield 32

Warrington 12

THE mere mention of the words 'Belle Vue' must fill Warrington Wolves coach Paul Cullen with dread and despair at the moment.

For on the two occasions he has taken his troops to the home of the Wildcats they have embarrassed him with a shoddy display.

That was certainly the case on Sunday as a catalogue of errors gifted Wakefield two precious points. The performance was every bit as dire as the 50-10 Belle Vue defeat which rounded off Wolves' horrendous Super League VII campaign.

Cullen labelled September's game his darkest point since his return to the club and he was equally scathing after Sunday's debacle (see below).

What upset him the most was Wolves' lack of fighting spirit. Wakefield were prepared to use every trick in the book to gain the upper hand and Warrington sat back and let them.

They were out enthused and outplayed for the entire 80 minutes but somehow they managed to lead 12-10 at the half-time break.

Graham Appo, who played in his preferred position of full back due to Lee Penny's late withdrawal with a calf injury, had a key role in restricting Wakefield to 10 first half points.

He pulled off a stunning early tackle on Matt Seers when a try looked a certainty but he was helpless to stop the outstanding Brad Davis and Colum Halpenny going over.

Slow reactions and weak tackling were at the root of both tries but Wakefield's defending was not worth writing home about either in the first half, particularly in the closing eight minutes.

First Adrian Vowles spilled Richard Handforth's pass to enable Lee Briers to send Rob Smyth scooting over for an 80 metres try.

And then Brent Grose was allowed to stretch out of a two-man tackle to touch down following a clever pass by Jerome Guisset and a 40/20 by Briers.

Both tries were converted by Briers but Wolves' captain failed to register with the boot at the start of the second half after being flattened by Vowles as he looked to regather a chip over the top.

It was one of many incidents which looked to merit a spell in the sin bin. The game was X-rated at times but referee Peter Taberner seemed to have left his yellow card at home.

Wakefield never looked back after Briers' miss from 40 metres out.

Man of the match Dallas Hood burst through a gap in Wolves' defence to score on 50 minutes after Briers had been penalised for a high tackle.

Eleven minutes later, Vowles brushed off an attempted tackle by Sid Domic to touch down and Wakefield extended their lead to 26-12 when Ben Jeffries went over after collecting his own angled grubber.

The try summed up Wolves' afternoon. A slug could have reacted quicker to the substitute's kick than they did.

Wolves' defending was equally poor for Wakefield's final try on 73 minutes. They looked half asleep as March and Jeffries combined to send Davis over and rubber stamp the end of Warrington's 100 per cent record against bottom six sides.

Wolves applied a late burst of pressure in a bid to bring some respectability to the final score line but there was no end product to their frenzied fumblings.

And when they did manage to cut through Wakefield's defence, butter-fingered Mike Wainwright bombed a certain try. The second rower was in acres of space when Nathan Wood passed him the ball between the sticks and Wolves' impressive band of travelling supporters were aghast when he contrived to drop it.

Match facts

Super League VIII Round 13, Sunday, June 8, 2003

Wakefield Wildcats 32

Warrington Wolves 12

SCORERS

Wildcats: Tries: Davis (17mins, 73), Halpenny (21), March (50), Vowles (61), Jeffries (68). Goals: Davis 4 from 6.

Wolves: Tries: Smyth (32mins), Grose (39). Goals: Briers 2 from 3.

SCORING RATE: Wolves first: 0-6, 0-10, 6-10, 12-10, half-time; 12-16, 12-20, 12-26, 12-32.

PENALTIES

Wildcats 9 Wolves 8

SCRUMS

Wildcats 10 Wolves 9

CONDITIONS: Overcast, patches of rain and sunny spells. Pitch: Fine.

MATCH RATING: 5/10

TOP MEN (Points to be accumulated throughout the season): Appo 3pts, Fozzard 2pts, Smyth 1pt.

ATTENDANCE: 3,612

WILDCATS: Martyn Holland; Colum Halpenny, Matt Seers, Jon Wells, Richard Newlove; Paul Handforth, Brad Davis; Jamie Field, David March, Dallas Hood, Troy Slattery, Gareth Ellis, Adrian Vowles. Subs used: Robert Spicer, Ben Jeffries, Darrell Griffin, Steve Snitch.

WOLVES: Graham Appo; Dean Gaskell, Ian Sibbit, Brent Grose, Rob Smyth; Lee Briers, Nathan Wood; Nick Fozzard, Jon Clarke, Mark Hilton, Darren Burns, Mike Wainwright, Sid Domic. Subs used: Paul Noone, Mark Gleeson, Jerome Guisset, Warren Stevens.

REFEREE: Peter Taberner