Coach Powell praises Wolves’ perfect start
RUGBY LEAGUE Warrington coach Daryl Powell hailed a brilliant first-half performance after his side swept to a 42-10 win over Leeds in their Betfred Super League opener at the Halliwell Jones Stadiumon Thursday night.
First-half tries from Matt Dufty, Daryl Clark, Josh Thewlis, Danny Walker and Sam
Kasiano, plus 10 points from the boot of captain Stefan Ratchford, put the Wolves out of sight before half-time.
And although Leeds got on the board with tries from new boys Derrell Olpherts and Justin Sangare, they continued to be undone by errors and the hosts capped a fine display with further efforts from James Harrison and Greg Minikin.
“We were smart with the ball, our middle unit marched us down the field and we were really accurate and patient and controlled it when we were in,” said Powell.
“As a whole team performance that first half was as good as you’re going to see.”
Powell was particularly pleased with the way his side dealt with the additional pressure of getting off to a good start following a dismal campaign last season that saw them trail in 11th ahead of only relegated Toulouse.
“We knew we had to show we were something a little bit different,” added Powell. “This game was put here (on TV) for a reason. A lot of people are talking about pressure and stuff like that and there was a bit of that tonight, but the players handled it well.
“I felt all along since week one of pre-season that it’s different - it looks different and feels different. I just think the team looks balanced and defensively we’re super-aggressive and we get after teams. We’ve worked really hard and we’ve set a high bar.”
■ CRICKET Lauren Bell insists England have “put to bed” the controversial run-out which decided her side’s last match against India ahead of their T20 World Cup meeting.
On the final day of the English international schedule last summer, Charlie Dean was run out backing up at the non-striker’s end by Deepti Sharma to secure India the win at Lord’s.
The dismissal sparked a debate that went all around the world, but seamer Bell is adamant it has not been spoken about ahead of Saturday’s clash.
“I think that’s very much put to bed now,” Bell said. “We don’t think about it, don’t talk about it as a team.”