Tony Smith: Best still yet to come for Warrington Wolves (From Warrington Guardian)

Tony Smith: Best still yet to come for Warrington Wolves

12:30pm Thursday 4th February 2010

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TONY Smith is under no illusions that his Warrington Wolves team will have to improve on their attacking performance against Wigan if they are to defeat Harlequins on Sunday.

Wolves’ head of coaching and rugby fielded an almost full strength line-up against Wigan last Wednesday and is expected to field a similar 17 as all came through the 20-12 defeat ‘fit and healthy’, with Jon Clarke (ankle) and Chris Hicks (groin) still not due back into contention after pre-season surgery.

That 17 includes new strike weapons Richie Myler, Ryan Atkins and David Solomona, brought in to give an extra dimension to Wolves’ prowess with the ball.

“We didn’t play our attacking best against Wigan,” said Smith.

“Our kicking game was poor particularly in the first half and even when we did attack we didn’t sustain any pressure.

“It’s another area we need to build on as our attacking game is not usually in question but I thought we were disjointed and we’ll have to work on that.”

Harlequins, who started the season with a home defeat to Wakefield, are currently without skipper Rob Purdham and key half back Luke Dorn with shoulder injuries, while Louie McCarthy-Scarsbrook will be missing after a suspension for head-butting.

But Smith expects the London side to pull together and give Wolves a challenging opening fixture.

“They’ll be a tough, tough team,” he said.

“They are missing some key players but it often galvinises a side and gets them to work hard.

“Hard-working teams can do some special things when they pull together and that’s what we’ll be looking to do as well.”

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