Warrington Wolves Academy produced an impressive all-round team display to get their 2023 campaign underway with a very good 16-48 victory at Hull Kingston Rovers at Craven Park with young forward Lucas Green grabbing a brace of tries.
The Wolves opened the scoring in the twelfth minute when hooker Ben Hartill went down the short side and slick handling saw scrum half Ben Tyrer, full back Cai Taylor-Wray and centre Ewan Smith combine to put winger Jake Thewlis over in the right corner. Winger Noah Booth converted from the touchline and four minutes later strong drives from prop forwards Logan Raughter and Lucas Green put the Wolves close to the Rovers line and Hartill scooted from dummy half and bounced off two defenders to score on the left. Booth added the conversion.
Midway through the half KR got on the scoreboard when full back Harvey Horne kicked the ball behind the Wolves defence and centre Louix Gorman won the race to pounce on the ball and score wide out on the right but the Wolves responded within six minutes as Tyrer collected a Hull KR kick five metres from his own line and raced sixty metres; after a ‘six again’ Irwin found Taylor-Wray linking into the line and he broke through an attempted tackle to score on the left. Booth added the conversion.
Just after the half hour a penalty put the Wolves deep into the Rovers half and Irwin found Taylor-Wray linking into the line and his long ball put Booth over in the left corner. Booth converted once again from the touchline and then five minutes before the break a great set saw the Wolves move into the KR twenty metre area and on the last tackle Tyrer kicked into the in-goal area and Irwin won the race to pounce on the ball and score at the side of the posts. Booth added the conversion to give his side a commanding 30-4 half time advantage.
Twelve minutes into the second half a loose pass by from Rovers scrum half Kieran Smith was picked up superbly by Horne on the halfway line and he broke clear on a fifty metre run to score at the side of the posts. Horne converted his own try and then straight from the restart a great offload from prop forward Zach Fishwick sent loose forward Archie Gray through a gap down the middle on a thirty metre run and he found substitute Jacob Parkinson in support to race over at the side of the posts. Horne added the conversion.
Just before the hour mark the Wolves regained their composure and were rewarded when substitute Alfie Mather found the impressive Green and he powered over from ten metres out with three men in attendance to score under the posts. Booth converted and then twelve minutes later a scrum on the Rovers ten metre line paid off for the Wolves as Irwin was held just short but centre Zac Bardsley-Rowe went from dummy half to score on the left. Booth added the conversion.
A minute from time a lovely short ball from Raughter found Green twenty metres out at speed and he carried three defenders over the line with him to score at the side of the posts. Booth completed a perfect day with the boot by adding his eighth conversion to round off a very impressive 48-16 win for the young Wolves.
After the game Wolves Academy Head Coach Danny Evans said, “I was really pleased to get the win; Hull KR is a hard place to come, and I knew the lads were going to be in for a tough game. I thought defensively we looked very strong in contact, and with the ball we scored some nice tries but there is improvement in us for sure. We are not getting carried away it is only round one. I want to praise Alex Eckley (strength and conditioner) and Adam Gummerson (physio); this is their first appointment and athletically we have come off a big pre-season and the boys looked good out there today. We had a front rower playing eighty minutes – Lucas Green and he scored two excellent tries. I think we had four substitutions left with twenty minutes to go (you are allowed eight in total) and the lads looked in good nick. From a medical side we picked up two nasty looking injuries with Noah High suffering a dislocated shoulder after only four minutes and Alfie Mather a bad facial injury but I thought our medical team handled these instances superbly.”
ROVERS
Harvey Horne, Connor Barley, Joshua Ratuvou, Louix Gorman, Oliver Forsyth, Lennie Ellis, Kieran Smith, Zach Fishwick, Charlie Beet, Hayden Todd, Ryan Hall, Anthony Chambers, Archie Gray.
Subs: Jack Krebs, Jacob Parkinson, Cameron Docherty, Tom Smith, James Farrar (18th Man).
Tries
Gorman (20 mins), Horne (52), Parkinson (55).
Goals
Horne 2 from 3
WOLVES
Cai Taylor-Wray, Jake Thewlis, Ewan Smith, Zac Bardsley-Rowe, Noah Booth, Pat Irwin, Ben Tyrer, Logan Raughter, Ben Hartill, Lucas Green, Sam Marshall, Nolan Tupaea, Noah High.
Subs: Alfie Mather, Ben Metcalfe, Peter Scott, Joe Bajer, Ben Godwin (18th Man).
Tries
Thewlis (12 mins), Hartill (16), Taylor-Wray (26), Booth (32), Irwin (35), Green (58, 79), Bardsley-Rowe (70).
Goals
Booth 8 from 8
