Halifax Blue Sox 14

Warrington Wolves 16

LEE Penny steered Warrington Wolves to a wonderful opening Super League win on Sunday but he paid the price.

The full back's 54th minute try, sliding into a pool of surface water, effectively won Warrington the game at the New Shay but he damaged his thumb in the process and took no further part in the game.

From then on Halifax battered the Wolves' line on a pitch so waterlogged it probably should not have been played but Warrington dug deep into their reserves of energy and showed the survival skills of SAS men in enemy territory.

Coach Darryl Van de Velde was full of praise for his players after his team's third consecutive win in competitions.

He said: "The weather conditions were appalling, it was just a lottery out there.

"But it was a great win. I have to give the players huge credit because they just slogged it out and hung in.

"They really knuckled down and held out for a good, positive start to the Super League season."

What little open rugby was played on the splish-splash of a pitch came from Warrington, who appeared to keep catching Halifax off guard with switches of play and three tries were the result.

Although Penny's try was the matchwinner, the best came from centre Toa Kohe-Love at a timely point in the game.

In theory the New Zealander should not have been able to have taken his try in the way that he did.

But he belied the slippery conditions to side-step past two bewildered defenders and then full back Daryl Cardiss to capitalise fully on a superb Scott Wilson pass from 30 yards out. Lee Briers converted and Warrington had a 12-8 lead to take into the second period.

The real heroes though were once again Warrington's forwards. It may not be the biggest pack in the game but the size of the players' hearts will take some beating.

Danny Farrar, Gary Chambers, Steve McCurrie, Simon Gillies, Danny Nutley, Mark Hilton and Jon Roper just kept pounding away - Halifax's forwards must have been sick of the sight of their three and four-man tackles over the past two weeks.

The Blue Sox shuffled their side around after their Challenge Cup exit at the hands of Warrington seven days before and for the opening six minutes it looked as if it might have had the desired affect as the Wolves were bombarded with pressure and could not get out of their own half.

Stand off Graham Holroyd, who played full back the week before, had already kicked Halifax two points ahead after Nutley was ruled to be guilty of holding down prop Paul Broadbent.

But the Wolves showed their teeth on their first attack at the Halifax line.

Loose forward Roper flicked up a delightful inside pass for McCurrie to blast over and the home crowd fell silent. Briers' goal made it 6-2.

Jason Roach and Toa Kohe-Love then held up second rower Des Clark on his back over the try line in the 18th minute but it was in vain as from the resultant scrum Halifax got back on level terms.

Warrington's defence was short of numbers and loose forward Martin Moana shoved off Briers to cross from 20 yards out.

Stand off Wilson was penalised for interfering at a play-the-ball and Holroyd booted over another penalty for an 8-6 lead.

At last referee Steve Nicholson penalised Halifax for holding down and the Wolves turned defence into attack for Kohe-Love to cross for his glorious try.

When Australian back rower Gillies was sin-binned for holding down in the 47th minute Halifax had a great opportunity to take command.

But Warrington defended mightily and then former Wire star Gary Mercer, for the second week running, was also sent to the sin bin for holding down.

The Wolves made the most of this chance by springing a surprise narrow side move which led to Briers and McCurrie giving Penny enough space to dart in from 25 yards. Briers' touchline kick went wide.

Farrar caught centre Jamie Bloem with a high tackle and was surprisingly not put on report for it but Holroyd's third successful penalty cut the deficit to six points and raised Halifax's hopes again.

It was backs to the wall for the Wolves and nine minutes from time substitute Nick Pinkney burrowed through a crowd of players to touch down a dubious try which the referee allowed after long consultations with the touch judge. Holroyd almost put his side on level terms but his touchline conversion bounced back in off the cross bar.

The frantic last nine minutes were nail-biting and the relief was clear when Warrington's players and army of supporters leapt in unison into the air with delight on hearing the final whistle.

Hopefully the pitch will be dry when the teams meet again at the New Shay on August 22.

Converted for the new archive on 13 March 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.