FORMER Wolves centre Chris Rudd was impressed with the defensive work of Wolves’ under 19s players in the 54-4 defeat of Widnes Vikings.

Wolves assistant coach Rudd said: “Our defence was massive. We came out on top in some heavy collisions which paved the way for us to cause damage when we had the ball and some of our attacking play was fantastic.

“The way that the lads are ‘hitting’ in the tackle during training is giving them the confidence to replicate this in the game and they are reaping their rewards. If you get your defence right then you have a great chance of winning the game.”

Some individuals caught his eye too.

“Jake Eccleston continued his rich vein of form with yet another superb display while half-back pairing Declan Patton and Louis Jouffret combined really well and they organised us all round the field,” he said.

“We had a late withdrawal when Ben Stansfield got hurt in the warm up and that meant we moved Matt Boyers from the bench on to the wing for his debut and his attitude has been first class. He took his try really well at the end.

“Morgan Nicholas took Boyers’ place on the bench and when he got on in the second half he really had a dig and he too was rewarded for a fine performance with a well taken first try at this level.”

Rudd is aware that there is a tougher task on the horizon though.

He said: “We have got a massive week coming up as we get ready for the visit of St Helens on Sunday, kick off noon at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.

“We will not be sitting back and patting ourselves on the back. We will be working even harder to make sure that we are ready come game day.”