Penny drops treble for Wolves

Kevin Penny's hat-trick helped Warrington Wolves to a 60-24 victory over Wakefield Wildcats on Sunday afternoon.

The Wolves ran in 11 tries to strengthen both their play-off prospects and caretaker coach Jimmy Lowes' claims to be appointed on a permanent basis.

Former Great Britain hooker Lowes has been in charge at the Halliwell Jones Stadium since the long-serving Paul Cullen left in the wake of May's home defeat to Castleford.

That loss represented a rock-bottom moment for the club but Lowes has since breathed new life into their season by transmitting the desire that characterised his own playing career into a group of players who underachieved so frequently under Cullen.

Matt King, Jon Clarke, Chris Riley, Michael Monaghan, Simon Grix and Penny all touched down to help the Wolves establish a 34-18 interval lead against the Challenge Cup semi-finalists.

And further tries from King, Martin Gleeson and Riley after the break, supplemented by a Penny brace to complete his personal treble, took the hosts' tally to an impressive 11.

Defensive failings

That they also shipped four tries was a reminder of some familiar defensive failings and a clear indication that Lowes still has much work to do.

Warrington led in the third minute after Clarke's dummy run created the space for a slick move involving Lee Briers, Monaghan and Chris Hicks that culminated in King crossing unopposed.

Hicks landed the first of his eight conversions but the visitors' response was initially impressive as two converted tries within the space of three minutes put them 12-6 ahead.

Wildcats scrum-half Danny Brough embarked on a run which took him deep into opposition territory, and although his progress was halted, a quick piece of thinking saw him recycle the ball and send Matt Peterson burrowing over from close range.

Brough added the extras for the first of his four conversions and in the ninth minute John Kear's men went in front when giant prop Richard Moore advanced forward at pace to force his way over after collecting a suspiciously forward-looking pass from Sam Obst.

Intelligent

The end-to-end action continued in the 12th minute when Briers produced a line break and inside pass to put Clarke over the line.

Hicks landed his second goal and, as the pendulum swung back in Warrington's favour, they claimed their third try in the 19th minute when an exquisite long pass from Briers allowed Riley to dive over in the right corner.

The conversion was off-target but the Wolves continued to dominate and Monaghan popped up to extend their lead from close range in the 27th minute. This time Hicks was on-target with the additional two points to open a 22-12 advantage.

Grix crossed from close range and although Matt Blaymire found the space to reply for Wakefield, Warrington had their sixth score in the closing stages of the first-half when Penny took King's pass and raced 60 metres to the line.

Monaghan showed outstanding vision to send King over for his second try in the 48th minute and although a horrendous error in the Warrington defence allowed Jason Demetriou to touch down in the 57th minute, Martin Gleeson added an eighth try for the hosts after exploiting a huge gap.

Penny added a late double to complete his hat-trick and sandwich an effort from Riley as Warrington enhanced their bid for a top six finish.

The result moves Warrington above Bradford, who lost at Huddersfield, into fifth place in the Super League table