THERE were two surprise Wolves selections for the Silk Cut Challenge Cup semi-final.

Coach Darryl Van de Velde elected to start the game with Martin Masella at prop forward ahead of Danny Nutley and there was a switch in the back row with Steve Georgallis playing loose forward.

Van de Velde revealed why he had made the moves.

He said: "I wanted Martin to be very aggressive for the first 20 minutes but I knew he wasn't going to last the whole game and Dan would get on.

"Also the week before Danny Nutley made 54 tackles against Salford which was an outstanding effort.

"People who booed him after Salford don't understand the game.

"He was a little flat so I decided to start with Marty. Dan went on and did his job again though. He was on there for an inital seven minutes and made 13 tackles in that time. He does so much work and people have to realise that without him we would put ourselves under pressure."

Georgallis, who has played hooker, stand off, scrum half, second row and substitute this year already for the Wolves, was given his preferred loose forward berth with Tawera Nikau moving into the second row.

Van de Velde said: "Georgallis is a good player and a good defender. Moving him to loose forward allowed him to tackle wider with Tawera tackling closer to the ruck.

"It also gave Georgallis some opportunities in attack as he tried to work things down the short side for us. I thought he was playing well until he got his bad injury to his neck."