LEE Briers remained upbeat despite his Wolves under 19s side's loss to his hometown club St Helens in the Super League curtain raiser at The Halliwell Jones Stadium on Saturday.

Wolves were edged out 22-20 after a strong fightback from 18-0 down in as many minutes.

Tries came from Sam Wilde, Jack Johnson, David Foggin-Johnston and Harvey Livett, who added two conversions.

Briers said: “I am really proud of the way the lads stuck together and really pushed a good St Helens side all the way.

"We were obviously disappointed with the opening quarter as we didn’t get out of the blocks and you cannot afford to give a side like St Helens the chance to pull ahead but for the next hour I thought we were very good.

"We showed a lot of maturity out there and I am certain that we will learn from it and come back even stronger over the next few weeks."

He added: "I thought that Pat Moran was outstanding once again; he gave us a great impact when he come off the bench and really took us forward.

"Charlie Phythian came in very late when Toby King was promoted to the first team but you wouldn’t have realised that as he looked very assured.

"We will continue to work hard on all areas of our game and look forward to a trip to Nottingham next Saturday when we face the Midlands Regional Academy.”