WARRINGTON Wolves followed up their spectacular 58-22 success at Bradford with another thoroughly impressive display against in-form third-placed Huddersfield Giants on Sunday afternoon.

Chris Hicks was to the fore again, following on from his three tries and nine goals in a 30-point haul at Odsal.

He crossed for a first-half hat-trick of tries, thanks in no small part to the service on his inside from Chris Bridge, and added six conversions for a personal tally of 24 points.

But there were a host of top performances, with Adrian Morley and Ben Westwood setting the platform early on.

Players had to show their versatility too, with Jon Clarke performing at hooker, half back and loose forward during the game, while others switched around to accommodate periods off the field from Michael Monaghan and Ben Harrison with head cuts.

One sour note for Warrington was seeing Lee Briers sadly limp out of the game in the 67th minute with an apparent hamstring injury.

Wolves got off to a flying start on the back of Scott Moore being penalised for holding down in the first tackle of the game.

Morley made them pay with two determined drives, offloading from the second one to allow Clarke, Vinnie Anderson and Chris Riley to flash the ball wide for Matt King to dive over in the corner under heavy pressure. Hicks converted from the touchline.

Giants gave a penalty away for interference in the next set and Warrington went try hunting again.

This time a wonderfully delayed pass from Lee Briers allowed Bridge to defy David Hodgson’s challenge and squeeze out a pass for Hicks to cross. Although Hicks was unable to convert, Wolves led 10-0 and Huddersfield had not even touched the ball other than to kick off and restart.

Huddersfield’s response came in the 18th minute after Paul Johnson, facing the sun, dropped a swirling ball from a high kick.

Danny Kirmond swooped on the loose ball and fed Warrington-born Simon Finnegan on his inside to race home unopposed. Brett Hodgson converted and it was 10-6.

Wolves wiped out four of those Huddersfield points six minutes later.

Michael Monaghan fired a high cross-field kick towards the right, with Westwood collecting, stumbling after beating a man but popping up the ball for Hicks to cross for his second try. Hicks’ conversion went wide off the post, 14-6.

Four minutes later Hicks completed his hat-trick.

Paul Rauhihi made the initial bust, then Wolves poured forward on the right with Jon Clarke and Monaghan involved in shipping the ball to Bridge, who took on the line and flicked out an ambitious offload that was perfect for Hicks to gather and drop over the line too wide out for him to convert.

Hicks nearly had a fourth try in the 38th minute as fast hands between Simon Grix and Bridge put him over only for referee Phil Bentham to rule out the score for a forward pass.

Fittingly, Hicks completed the first-half scoring with a 28-metre penalty goal.

Importantly for Huddersfield, they got the first score of the second half.

Briers slipped off Paul Whatuira as he ghosted over on the left and with Brett Hodgson converting, Wolves’ lead was cut to 20-12 with 45 minutes played.

Wolves were not about to go in their shell, though, and piled on the pressure to get back into the ascendancy.

A succession of penalties and six more tackles from forcing a drop out led to Monaghan scooting between Luke Robinson and Eorl Crabtree to cross in the 53rd minute. Hicks converted off a post from the touchline for a 26-12 cushion.

Riley and and Hicks swapped roles but the tries kept coming on the right flank, with Bridge again the provider.

Mickey Higham had been held up over the line and Wolves appeared to lose their way but Clarke switched the ball right where Briers found Bridge with a searching ball and he handed on to give his outside man Riley a walkover. Hicks goaled and it was 32-12.

Five minutes from time Giants crossed for their third try in controversial circumstances.

Robinson appeared to pass off the ground while tackled but play was allowed to continue and Darrell Griffin broke before sending Brett Hodgson home. Hodgson improved his try to make it 32-18.

But there was still time for another spectacular effort from Riley after his long-range special at Bradford.

Having now switched back to full back, he regathered a Huddersfield chip kick, quickly weighed up the oncoming traffic and found a route to scamper 60 metres and lift The Halliwell Jones Stadium roof. Hicks converted for a 38-18 score line.

Finally, just like in the first half, the second 40 minutes ended with a penalty goal from 30 metres from man of the match Hicks.