WOLVES RESTORE FAITH

THE unwavering support of Warrington Wolves' loyal supporters through the team's first four Super League losses was repaid in full with a sparkling display of rugby on Thursday night.

The smiles were put back on the faces of everyone involved with the club by a performance which was unrecognisable from the previous four league games.

And 'Darryl Van de Velde's barmy army' were dancing on the terraces as the Wolves demolished Leeds with some scintillating tries.

The relief on the coach's face was evident and although Van de Velde was happy he was still not wholly satisfied.

He said: "I was really pleased but we have played better than that this year and lost.

"The first half was very scratchy and we turned over a lot of ball.

"The second half we applied the pressure and came up with a couple of tries."

The win was a much-needed tonic to help lift the gloom that had been hanging over the club and Van de Velde acknowledged as much.

He said: "It was a big thing for our confidence. That is why we were dropping the ball a lot in the first half because we were lacking confidence.

"That will go a long way to starting the season off for us - we needed to kick-start it."

Van de Velde attributed the win to good work on one particular flank and praised the work of Steve Georgallis, deputising at stand off for Lee Briers.

He said: "There was some good stuff down our left hand side which is where Sibbit came up with some of his hat-trick of tries.

"I was pleased with Georgallis' game. There has been some criticism of him and Dave Kidwell too. They're good players and I think they got a lot of confidence out of that game."

Van de Velde also saw the victory as a turning point and a sign that after all the tragedy and bad press surrounding the club that it signalled that the players' minds were back on business.

He said: "The bereaving has finished. I was conscious of that happening because it can engulf you and once it does that you lose your focus."

As Van de Velde implied, many of the tries came from Georgallis' work. After a jittery start from the Greek-Australian he picked up his game, scored a fine try and helped create numerous others.

He was helped by a pack, missing Andrew Gee, which constantly made big yards. As a unit they took turns taking the ball in from deep and at speed, and set up excellent field positioning for Alfie Langer and Georgallis to carve out the gaps out wide.

Dean Busby had another outstanding game, this time at loose forward. Danny Nutley was a deserved winner of the sponsors' man of the match for his tremendous running. And they were ably backed by Martin Masella, Gary Mercer, plus Jerome Guisset and Kidwell coming off the substitutes' bench.

Kidwell was used, for the first time this season, in the second row and he looked more at home with the ball in his hands taking the game straight into the heart of the Rhinos' pack.

The key to Warrington's victory was that they were urgent for the full 80 minutes. In the past they have got themselves in front, then relaxed and seen their lead slip. This time once they sensed victory and they kept going forward.

The centres were devastating in their finishing. Sibbit's hat-trick took him to level with Briers as this season's leading try scorer and Toa Kohe-Love also ran in one of Warrington's seven tries.

Although Warrington were on song, a Rhinos side missing seven regular starters including Brett Mullins, Tonie Carroll and Keith Senior, did not put up a good fight.

Besides the one try from 18-year-old 5ft 2in tall and 11 stone debut scrum half Rob Burrows, Leeds were simply awful.

A fast-paced start to the game saw knock ons from both sides but Wolves were first to score on 12 minutes.

Kohe-Love intercepted a Kevin Sinfield pass on Warrington's 15-metre mark and took the ball to the half way line before being tackled. A quick play-the-ball saw Rob Smyth dart in field as Leeds were struggling to tackle back and he fed Alan Hunte, who came flying through a gap and outpaced the defenders to charge the remaining 25 metres and score.

Georgallis marked the start of his inspired performance with a neat cross-field kick for which Sibbit needed all his height to gather before Mark Calderwood and touch down.

Kidwell sent Warrington in to the break with a 16-0 lead with a fantastic individual try.

Coming onto the ball strongly he broke one tackle and swatted away two others to crash over the line the left centre channel.

Leeds opened the second half scoring with a Burrow's try.

This was instigated by the arrival of Iestyn Harris as a substitute. He landed a 40-20 and from the scrum Burrow dummied three men and scored.

Thinking

Georgallis showed good thinking to score on 61 minutes when he scooted from first receiver, dummied Chev Walker and cut through a gap to cross the whitewash.

Five minutes later Sibbit got his second Busby and made good ground and from the next tackle Sibbit came flying on to a perfect Langer pass to race in on the left.

A determined kick-chase game, stepped up in the last 15 minutes, kept the pressure on hapless Leeds.

Kohe-Love scored in similar fashion to Sibbit on 69 minutes. After three searching passes from the play-the-ball Georgallis hit Kohe-Love with a well-timed pass and he stormed through a gap on the left.

Sibbit completed the scoring with his hat-trick in the 77th minute. Busby capped a fine performance by supplying Sibbit with the pass which saw him skip past centre Andy Kirk to complete a night of long-awaited jubilation for the raucous Wolves fans.

MATCH FACTS

Super League Round Five, Thursday, April 12, 2001

Warrington Wolves...36 Leeds Rhinos...6

SCORERS

Wolves: Tries: Hunte (12mins), Sibbit (33, 65, 77), Kidwell (37), Georgallis (61), Kohe-Love (69). Goals: Smyth 4.

Rhinos: Try: Burrow (54). Goal: Harris.

SCORING RATE: Wolves first: 6-0, 12-0, 16-0, half-time; 16-6, 20-6, 26-6, 30-6, 36-6.

PENALTIES: Wolves 8 Rhinos 6

SCRUMS: Wolves 10 Rhinos 12

WOLVES: Alan Hunte; Rob Smyth, Ian Sibbit, Toa Kohe-Love, Jamie Stenhouse; Steve Georgallis, Allan Langer; Martin Masella, David Highton, Danny Nutley, Steve McCurrie, Gary Mercer, Dean Busby. Subs used: David Alstead, David Kidwell, Paul Wood, Jerome Guisset.

RHINOS: Francis Cummins; Mark Calderwood, Andy Kirk, Chev Walker, Marcus St. Hilaire; Karl Pratt, Rob Burrow; Darren Fleary, Robbie Mears, Anthony Farrell, Andy Hay, Bradley Clyde, Kevin Sinfield. Subs used: Iestyn Harris, Danny Ward, Dave Wrench, Ewan Dowes.

REFEREE: Robert Connolly

ATTENDANCE: 5,871

CONDITIONS: Overcast, cool. Pitch: Good condition.