Sheffield Eagles 35

Warrington Wolves 6

By MIKE PARSONS

IF Warrington had been playing against a decent side on Friday they could easily have had 60 points slammed past them.

It was a dreadful Wolves performance at Don Valley Stadium and provoked coach Darryl Van de Velde to say he felt some of his players had decided their holidays had come early.

Some of them can expect to be handed permanent holidays as they continue to fail to impress the boss, and the loyal supporters, at a time when new contracts are to be negotiated.

There were plenty of excuses Warrington could have used for such an inept display but it would have been futile for the club to use them for the team's most consistent failing.

Just because six of the season's regular squad players were missing it did not excuse the rest of the team for dropping the ball non-stop.

This can not either be explained away by Van de Velde being forced into making four substitutions in the opening 39 minutes.

The only honest reason for Warrington's case of 'dropsy' was lack of concentration and this stems from not being focused.

If players do not perform under the pressure of knowing their livelihood depends on it, then they are never likely to perform.

It is becoming more and more crucial that the consortium of businessmen about to invest into Warrington conclude their takeover dealings as quickly as possible.

For this will give Van de Velde the time he will need to attempt to attract better players to Wilderspool for next year so that the memory of 1998 Super League can be buried forever.

Warrington fans deserve better than what they witnessed on Friday - no pride, no passion, nothing!

I felt sorry for the supporters who were on the coach that broke down on the way. They only arrived 25 minutes into the game and had missed Warrington's token point scoring by then!

Warrington actually opened the scoring at Don Valley in the 16th minute as Steve McCurrie celebrated his signing of a new three year contract with a try.

He knocked off two tacklers on the way to the line after long passes from debut scrum half Phil Finney and stand off Lee Briers set him up. Briers converted but that was the end of Warrington's point scoring.

Sheffield made a change when they brought on the experienced Mark Aston to replace Gareth Stephens at scrum half and it seemed to make a difference.

A minute later loose forward Martin Wood made a break down the middle of the field. Strong tackling then held up hooker Johnny Lawless short of the line but Sheffield swept the ball wide where Australian Paul Carr burst over from a Dave Watson pass. Wood's goal made it all square.

Warren Stevens, who replaced limping Warrington prop Gary Chambers after 15 minutes, was found guilty of holding down in the 26th minute and Wood's penalty edged the Eagles ahead.

Three minutes later, after Chris Rudd had knocked on, Aston supplied the pass for Wood to charge through Finney and over for four more points.

Sheffield targeted Warrington's 17-year-old Academy scrum half as the man to run at and Van de Velde replaced him with Brendon Tuuta after 32 minutes.

Rudd, in his first game back after Achilles' trouble, had to be helped off the field after he was flattened while he chased his own kick. Academy full back Will Cowell replaced him.

Two minutes later Mike Eagar picked up an arm injury and Rudd went back on. Warrington were obviously struggling to find any rhythm while this was going on.

An Aston drop goal seven minuters into the second period took Sheffield 13-6 ahead and Warrington's heads dropped knowing that at least two catch-up scores were needed.

Five minutes later Cowell showed his defensive inexperience by shooting out of the line and left a huge gap for Darren Turner to walk over from acting half back. Wood's goal made it 19-6.

It was all one-way traffic now and Watson, Whetu Taewa and substitute Dale Cardoza touched down in the final quarter with Wood adding each conversion.

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