WARRINGTON Wolves Reserves blew off the cobwebs with a fine 46-12 victory over Salford Red Devils Reserves in a pre-season friendly at Victoria Park Stadium on Saturday.

Three players bagged two tries each – wingers Frank Sergent and Jake Thewlis as well as full-back Cai Taylor-Wray.

Centre Zack Gardner, who kicked seven goals from nine attempts, and hooker Ben Hartill also got over the whitewash.

Wolves Reserves head coach Ryan O’Brien said a lot could be taken from the performance and he had some special praise for centre Charlie Walker.

“It was definitely a productive exercise for our boys,” he said.

“The game was pretty stop-start with both teams still getting used to the new rules and interpretations, and because of that we couldn’t get into any real rhythm.

“We did manage to show some short glimpses of what we have been working on in pre-season, but we just have to do this more consistently and for longer periods.

“Although Salford were a big, physical set and were hard to handle at times, I was proud of how committed and connected we were in defence and particularly on our goal-line.

“Everybody got a decent amount of game time and put in positive performances.

“A special mention to 16 year-old Charlie Walker, who was drafted into the squad late this week and hasn’t even played Academy yet.

“He didn’t look out of place, and being mentored by Jake Thewlis on that left edge will have been a great learning curve for him.”

Wolves opened the scoring in the sixth minute when slick handling out wide saw the ball reach Sergent who squeezed over in the right corner.

And then five minutes later a strong carry from a tap penalty from Walker put Wolves to within 20 metres of the Salford line and from a quick play the ball hooker Ben Hartill went down the short side and found Thewlis who powered over two defenders to score in the left corner.

Salford replied shortly afterwards when a repeat set close to the Wolves line paid off as scrum half Nathan Connell found second row John Hutchings and he twisted in the tackle to score on the left. Stand off Jack Gatcliffe converted.

Then a lovely ball from Wolves second row Nolan Tupaea found Walker who raced away before handing over to Taylor-Wray who scored between the posts.

On the half hour more slick handling from Wolves out wide saw four players combine to find Sergent who squeezed over superbly to score in the right corner.

Reds centre George Charnock was sin binned for a high tackle on Sergent as he scored.

Two minutes before the break Walker gave a great first-time ball to Thewlis who raced away to score in the left corner. Gardner’s conversion gave his side a 28-6 half-time advantage.

A minute into the second half Wolves moved further ahead when Taylor-Wray broke down the middle and found Gardner who raced 40 metres to score between the posts.

Eight minutes later Salford hooker Cole Connolly went down the short side and caught the Wolves defence flat footed as he found prop forward Cole Appleby who scored on the right.

Salford had Hutchings sin binned for ‘man to man’ confrontation and Wolves made the extra man count as Hartill scooted from dummy half and evaded four defenders to score on the left.

In the last minute Taylor-Wray danced around four defenders on a solo run to score at the side of the posts.

Wolves: Cai Taylor-Wray; Frank Sergent, Zack Gardner, Charlie Walker, Jake Thewlis; Joe Hickey, Adam Whalley; Bobby Shingler, Ben Hartill, Noah High, Peter Scott, Nolan Tupaea, Logan Raughter. Subs: Lewis Barratt, Alfie Mather, Jamie Reddecliff, Joe Bajer, Tom McKinney, Stephen Antrobus, Ashley Barnes.