Warrington back to winning ways with 38-10 victory over Wakefield
Last Updated: 15/08/16 10:43am
Wakefield old boy Ryan Atkins was one of Warrington's six tryscorers as Wolves defeated Wakefield 38-10 to record their first Super 8s win.
Victory lifts treble-chasing Wire into second place above Wigan and one point behind leaders Hull, but the Wembley finalists had not been as dominant as they were two weeks previously in the Challenge Cup semi-finals at Leigh.
On that occasion they ran in 10 tries en route to a 56-12 success. This time they rarely hit top form against their patched-up hosts, for whom newcomer Judah Mazive scored on his home debut.
However, it was only consolation for Chris Chester's team, who head to Widnes next Sunday without a Super 8s win.
Warrington recovered from an early scare to take a 16-6 lead after an undistinguished first half, but Wakefield, 38-26 winners when the sides met at Belle Vue back in May, stunned Warrington by taking a 19th-minute lead.
Second row Jonny Molloy followed up Liam Finn's kick and beat the static Wire defence to the touch. Finn added the extras.
The visitors, still smarting from their opening Super 8s defeat to St Helens, laboured to get back into the contest. Even referee Rob Hicks contrived to spoil their attacks, inadvertently getting in the way of Kurt Gidley's possible try scoring pass to Stefan Ratchford.
After leaking 116 points in their previous two outings and without 11 injured senior players, Wakefield could feel satisfied with their start.
Their defence held firm for the first quarter before Warrington found a way through. Ben Currie crossed for his 15th league try of the campaign though Gidley missed his conversion attempt.
Five minutes later skipper Chris Hill gave Warrington a lead they never relinquished with his team's second touchdown. And when substitute Max Jowitt failed to gather Chris Sandow's harmless looking kick close to the line, ex Wakefield favourite Atkins dived over to score.
Wakefield, only featuring in the Super 8s due to Salford's six-point deduction for salary cap breaches, looked lively after the resumption.
But they lacked a cutting edge in attack and were punished after 48 minutes when Russell raced 70 metres to score after intercepting Craig Hall's loose ball.
Wakefield were not quite finished and despite defeat the game proved a memorable one for England academy international Mazive.
Having made his debut at Wigan 10 days earlier, the slightly-built teenage winger crossed in the corner as Molloy turned try provider after 54 minutes.
However, Russell, Daryl Clark and Joe Westerman went over in the final quarter to put the result beyond doubt.
