Wolves savage Wildcats

Atkins: hat-trick for Warrington

Warrington scored 11 converted tries on Sunday when they beat Wakefield 66-12 to keep the pressure on Wigan in the battle to top the Super League table.

Having scored four tries last time out against Bradford, Ryan Atkins grabbed a hat-trick against his old club while Chris Bridge kicked 10 goals from 10 attempts - including several off the touchline.

Louis Anderson and Matt King each crossed twice for the Wolves, who were still missing captain Adrian Morley, Lee Briers and suspended Mickey Higham, but welcomed back Rhys Evans from his loan spell at Leigh.

Wakefield, who were unable to field any players allocated jerseys numbers one to seven at the start of the season, handed Papua New Guinea international centre Ryan Tongia his debut.

But coach John Kear still had to grapple with the absences of Matt Blaymire, Aaron Murphy, Luke George and Josh Griffin because of injury.

The Wildcats went into the clash with only one win in their last 11 league and cup matches, with their last away victory at Castleford back in April and their last home game ending in a 40-6 loss to Crusaders.

Bad start

They made the worst possible start too, with Bridge strolling over from Brett Hodgson's inside pass after only 60 seconds. Hodgson kicked the conversion before limping off with a thigh injury.

Bridge took over the goalkicking and added the extras to Atkins' 12th-minute try after his smart pass under pressure to Louis Anderson.

Wakefield then cut the gap to 12-6, with Kyle Amor pouncing after Julien Rinaldi's kick rebounded off a defender.

But Dale Morton's mistake from the kick-off allowed Warrington to create the platform for Richie Myler to cross the whitewash.

King and Atkins should have extended Warrington's lead but both spilled passes with the line at their mercy, before the Wolves lost Ben Westwood with a leg injury.

Tongia saved a try with a tackle on Atkins before Bridge put Joel Monaghan over in the corner, and Bridge's touchline conversion made it 24-6 at half-time.

Atkins then had a try disallowed early in the second half after a pass from King was adjudged forward.

Temporary relief

But Wakefield's relief was only temporary, with King going over for his side's fifth try before Anderson and Atkins added two more in quick succession.

Atkins completed his hat-trick on the hour before Anderson and King added further scores to increase the lead to 60-6.

Bridge put Mike Cooper over for his side's final try before Tongia, Wakefield's best player on his debut, created a late consolation for Jeremy Smith.