WARRINGTON Wolves’ academy team saw their 100 per cent winning start to the campaign ended by St Helens on Saturday.

Saints came out on top at Victoria Park as they stretched away inside the final 10 minutes to record a 26-12 victory, with Frank Sergent’s hat-trick in vain for The Wire.

The winger’s third try ensured they trailed by just two points going into the game’s final stages, but tries from William Keeley and Harry Robertson allowed the visitors to pull away.

“Whilst we showed plenty of work ethic, toughness and resilience, that alone is not enough against a team that has some very talented individuals,” head of youth Ryan O’Brien said.

“Our discipline, decision-making and execution was nowhere near the standard required to come out on top in competitive games.

“There will be a lot to highlight when we review the game and then address in training over the coming weeks and months.”

Sergent gave The Wire a great start as he squeezed over in the corner after just two minutes having taken Deacon Connelly’s excellent pass, but a forward pass from the restart presented Saints with an immediate chance to respond and they sent Owen Dagnall over from the resulting scrum.

Saints themselves were then punished for a similar error as Wire struck from a scrum, with Cai Taylor-Wray linking in from full-back to find Sergent, who bounced off two defenders to touch down.

Back came St Helens again and Dagnall once again touched down in the corner before a George Whitby penalty gave them a 10-8 lead on the stroke of half time.

Whitby and Oliver Garmston then combined to put Matthew Penketh over to extend the visitors’ lead, but Wire would not go away and Sergent took a lovely ball from Taylor-Wray to acrobatically dive over.

That set up an exciting finish, but Saints took the initiative as Keeley profited from them keeping the ball alive to score before Robertson bounced off two defenders to seal the victory.

Wolves: Cai Taylor-Wray; Frank Sergent, Deacon Connolly, Zack Gardner, Charlie Walker; Joe Hickey, Pat Irwin; Charlie Mckler, Lewis Barratt, Tom McKinney, Daniel Hackney, Kian Stanton, Alfie Mather. Subs: Daniel Regan, Ben Pearce, James McGuire, Sam Roberts. 18th man: Oliver Evans