A SPIRITED Warrington Wolves had little to show for their efforts as their disappointing season ended in a 36-0 defeat to the Huddersfield Giants.
Both sides came into the game on six points with sixth place up for grabs, but the Giants proved too strong, despite some enterprise from a young Wolves team that gave a debut to teenage prop Lilly Day from the bench.
In a season beset with injury problems, player withdrawals and unavailability, head coach Armani Sharrock will have been delighted to welcome full-back Anna Dennis back into the fold after a long-term injury but had to reshuffle her troops early on when winger Rebecca Nixon limped off with suspected ligament damage after falling victim to a suspected hip-drop tackle.
Despite the disruption, Wire more than held their own for the first 20 minutes, mixing solid defence with attacks that just lacked that bit of creativity to see them over the try line.
Young halfback Millie Bell was a shining light for the Wire in the early stages with her running game causing problems and a couple of decent probing kicks that turned the hosts’ defence round on a couple of occasions. Prop Helena Turner also made decent ground in attack, backed by the ever-reliable Sammi Simpson down the middle.
But, as the wet conditions worsened and the murk closed in, Wire began to make errors which ultimately cost them the first try. After Dennis had just failed to take the ball in to score at one end, Huddersfield then forced the Wire into a poor defensive kick on the last tackle which was picked up by Ana Da Silva, who fed full-back Amelia Brown down the right to sprint over the line on 22 minutes.
Ellie Thompson missed the conversion but moments later Lois Naidole was in on the left after Wire had been harshly penalised for a ball steal in the tackle leaving the Wire 8-0 down.
And, when Abi Johnson uncharacteristically knocked on from a long through kick on her own line, scrum half Sam Hulme took full advantage to shoot over form the resultant scrum.
At 12-0, Hulme and her half-back partner Frankie Townend began to take control, supported by Eloise Hayward, whose appearance from the bench was a turning point in the game.
If Wire were hoping to regroup and head into the break just two converted scores behind, the Giants had other ideas and took the game away from the visitors in the dying moments of the half when Naidole pounced on a Wire drop-out from under the sticks to score her second. Thompson’s extras stretched the lead to 18-0.
Wire started the second half brightly and benefited from a couple of mistakes and poor discipline from the Giants but just couldn’t get over the line. And, when prop Grace Burnett knocked on to bring another promising move to an end, the Giants moved quickly up field for Naidole to put Brown through on the right. She outpaced the Wire defence to make the conversion easy for Thompson and stretch the lead to 24-0 with 50 minutes gone.
Giants sealed the game with further converted tries from Townend and Naidole to take the final score to 36-0, bringing down the curtain on a disappointing campaign for the Wolves.
Warrington:
1 Anna Dennis
2 Abigail Johnston
3 Nicole Barnett
33 Albany Coates
5 Rebecca Nixon
6 Millie Bell
7 Charlize Magraw
10 Grace Burnett
26 Ellie Jelves
20 Helena Turner
11 Katie May Williams
35 Emily Baggaley
12 Sammi Simpson
Subs40. Lilly Day
16 Megan Fondliffe
17 Louise Fellingham
36 Chelsea NewtonHuddersfield
5 Amelia Brown
31 Mollie Iceton
3 Ana Da Silva
4 Lois Nadole
22 Allana Waller
6 Frankie Townend
7 Sam Hulme
18 Emma Wilkinson
17 Meg Preston
11 Jess Harrap
24 Ellie Thompson
12 Kacy Hayley
9 Bethan OatesSubs
1 Amy Bennett
20 Georgia Hampshaw
27 Gracie Hobbs
32 Eloise Hayward
