Round 7
Wakefield Trinity Wildcats 21 l. Warrington Wolves 22

2006 English Super League Index [Table] [Draw] [Player Stats] [Club Headlines]

Location: United Kingdom > National > First Grade Competition: English Super League

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats
Jamie Rooney [F8] 17 Pts; 2t, 4g, 1fg
Semi Tadulala [WG] 4 Pts; 1t

Warrington Wolves
Chris Bridge [HB] 14 Pts; 2t, 3g
Toa Kohe-Love [CT] 4 Pts; 1t
Logan Swann [SR] 4 Pts; 1t



Warrington win game of two halves
Mon March 27, 2006
Warrington and Wakefield have played out a game of contrasting halves with the Wolves emerging 22-21 victors in a game where all the points were scored at one end of the field.

Wakefield were desperate for victory sitting in equal last position alongside the once mighty Wigan came out breathing fire in the first half with Semi Tadulala opening the scoring in the 10th minute. The first half however was dominated by Wildcats stand-off Jamie Rooney who contributed 17 points to give Wakefield a 21-0 lead at the break. Rooney scored and converted two tries in the 19th and 25th minutes and also landed a penalty goal 13th minute on top of converted Tadulala's try. Rooney slotted a drop-goal four minutes prior to halftime as the Wildcats looked home and hosed confining Wigan to the dreaded last position all on their own.

Warrington coach Paul Cullen was very critical of the Wolves attitude last week against Catalans where they suffered a shock loss and the first half was no different. Whatever Cullen said at halftime worked a treat with Warrington responding by scoring four unanswered tries to steal a memorable away victory.

Toa Kohe-Love opened the Wolves scoring with a 47th minute try with Lee Briers unable to convert with Wakefield up 21-4.

Former Cronulla super-sub Michael Sullivan sparked Warrington's revival coming on in the second half and creating tries for Chris Bridge in the 59th minute and Logan Swann ten minutes later for the Wolves to be down 21-16 with Bridge converting both tries.

Briers engineered the final try with a nice little grubber with halves partner Bridge on the spot to score his second try. Wakefield was leading 21-20 but Bridge held his nerves to convert with Warrington gaining two valuable points winning 22-21.

Cullen after the match said, "We were too soft in the first half, but too tough in the second half. We invited a fight very similar to last week but seven days later we won it. That fight and team spirit that was there in the second half wasn't there sufficiently last week, but it was there today.

"It was a win for team spirit. We have had half a dozen players who are nowhere near the best of their form. We didn't respect the possession in the first half

"We were looking for the perfect hole and the perfect pass. At half time we reminded ourselves that if you want to go wide we will invite the quality of defence we got today from Wakefield.
"When we straightened the play-up we found the holes that we were hoping to exploit in the first half."

Cullen also paid tribute to halfback Bridge, who starred for the Wolves with 14 points. Cullen said, "He is improving with the more involvement he has. The more involvement our halfbacks have, the better we look. We want more involvement from our players. They can score some very good tries when we get that involvement."

Wakefield coach Tony Smith was naturally disappointed after the match and said, "Some things went on that we didn't have control of. They had the ball 25 times in the second half, we had it 11.

"The crowd have got their own opinion on it. We never got a chance to score in that second half. The penalties and possession crippled us. Crucial decisions can kill you and that's what happened today.
"I can't knock my players efforts. We had three different people making 50 tackles. I'm disappointed, it's hard to take, but this team is a good Rugby League team. We've lost but I know deep down that we were the better team today."

Scoring Details:
10 Wakefield Try by Semi Tadulala
11 Wakefield Goal by Jamie Rooney
13 Wakefield Goal by Jamie Rooney
19 Wakefield Try by Jamie Rooney
20 Wakefield Goal by Jamie Rooney
25 Wakefield Try by Jamie Rooney
26 Wakefield Goal by Jamie Rooney
36 Wakefield Drop goal by Jamie Rooney
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47 Warrington Try by Toa Kohe-Love
48 Warrington Goal missed by Lee Briers
59 Warrington Try by Chris Bridge
60 Warrington Goal by Chris Bridge
69 Warrington Try by Logan Swann
70 Warrington Goal by Chris Bridge
74 Warrington Try by Chris Bridge
74 Warrington Goal by Chris Bridge

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