ASSISTANT coach Chris Rudd praised Warrington Wolves under 19s’ ‘whack’ after they beat Salford Red Devils on Saturday to maintain a four-point lead in the Academy league.

Wolves enjoyed a hatful of tries through Declan Kay, two, Ryan Maneely, Toby King, Declan Patton, two, Jack Johnson, Ben Stansfield, Louis Jouffret and a debut score for Jake Simm.

Rudd praised the youngsters’ performance in both attack and defence. “We based our game on the ‘whack’ and it was good to see,” he said.

“Yet again we have only conceded two tries which is testament to our defensive abilities, yet we have also managed to score 10 tries which shows how good we are with the ball in hand.

“It was yet another very pleasing display from all of the team. We started the game very well defensively and that got us on the front foot straight away.

“The forwards laid the platform with some excellent work and the introduction of Daniel Murray and Robert Holroyd from the bench proved pivotal as their size, pace and energy was too much for the Salford defence to handle.

“That enabled our half back pairing of Declan Patton and Louis Jouffret to dictate the game and direct the side around the field.”

The under 19s face their Bradford Bulls counterparts, 12pm, in a curtain-raiser to Sunday’s Super League clash.

Wolves: Jack Johnson; Ben Stansfield, Jake Simm, Toby King, Declan Kay; Declan Patton, Louis Jouffret; Andy Philbin, Ryan Maneely, George King, James Jones, Sam Wilde, Connor Adams. Subs: Robert Holroyd, Morgan Nicholas, Daniel Murray, Daniel Hirst.