Smith sees some consolation

Smith: Room for improvement

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Tony Smith was pleased to see Warrington Wolves bring the curtain down on their campaign with a 44-34 victory over Harlequins.

Kevin Penny grabbed two tries and there were also scores for Ben Westwood, Lee Briers, Matt Blythe, Alex Thompson, Micky Higham and Tyrone McCarthy at the Halliwell Jones Stadium.

The Carnegie Challenge Cup winners finished 10th as a result and, despite missing out on the play-offs, Smith was full of praise for his side and the evergreen Adrian Morley

"It wasn't pretty from either side in terms of defence. But both teams tried and threw caution to the wind," he said.

"It's nice to finish with a win but we're a couple of wins too short of the play-offs. We'd like to be making a finals appearance but at least we have one trophy in the cabinet and will be chasing the other next year.

"Mozza led the team unbelievably well and keeps churning out performances. It was also good for Alex Thompson to score a debut try and Tyrone McCarthy keeps coming up and has been consistent at the end of the year.

"We showed some enterprise with the ball and it was a nice way for Paul Rauhihi to finish."

Smith also revealed Paul Johnson and Steve Pickersgill will be leaving Warrington.

Approach

Luke Dorn bagged a hat-trick of tries for the visitors, meanwhile, with Tony Clubb, Jamie O'Callaghan and Matt Gafa the other scorers.

And Quins coach Brian McDermott was pleased with the open approach both sides took to the game.

"It was a tough game for both teams to focus but we were both committed and there was some entertainment out there," he said.

"We could have rolled over in the second half when Warrington had the momentum but we dug in and showed some steel and could have snatched it.

"It was a good game to blood some youngsters and they did well. David Williams came on at prop and got a big hit off Adrian Morley so will have some skin to put on his wall."

The real down side for McDermott was how his team had faded towards the end of the campaign - eventually finishing 11th in the standings.

"It was a disappointing end to the season with only one win in 12," he added.

"I've done some soul searching in recent weeks but am already planning for next year to start fixing things up. I am excited about the pre-season."