WARRINGTON Wolves and Hull Kingston Rovers are finely balanced at half time.

Wolves have successfully broken the Robins down the left on three occasions, leading to Chris Hicks, Michael Monaghan and Vinnie Anderson being rewarded with tries and giving the army of fans opportunities to test out the Murrayfield acoustics.

But falling behind in the penalty count has cost them two scores at the other end.

The first try of the second half will be crucial to both teams.

Wolves got off to another flyer, as in previous weeks against Bradford and Huddersfield.

Chris Riley was held up a metre short by Peter Fox after a 50m move involving Monaghan, Anderson and Simon Grix on Wolves’ left.

Wolves earned a penalty and after Paul Rauhihi’s drive in, Bridge threw out a long ball for Hicks to go over in the fourth minute. Hicks also converted from wide out.

Rovers were soon back on level terms, though.

Rauhihi gave a penalty away for ball stealing and Shaun Briscoe made him pay, crashing over from Ben Galea’s short pass, and Michael Dobson converted.

Wolves then cut open the Robins on the left for a second time, with Grix breaking away off Anderson’s feed and Monaghan supporting on the inside to finish off a 50m score. Hicks’ goal attempt was wide, leaving Wolves 10-6 ahead with 12 minutes gone.

And then they crossed on Rovers’ right again, this time a switch of play on the narrow side and a decoy run from Grix bamboozling the defence with Anderson the man to cash in. Hicks added the extras and it was 16-6 with 16 minutes played.

Wolves started to undo that good work when Garreth Carvell was penalised for stealing and a succession of indiscretions left Tony Smith’s men desperately defending their own line.

Eventually a huge gap opened up for Dobson to get over the whitewash and he added the conversion to reduce the gap to 16-12.

Wolves went into the game with Chris Bridge at stand off, stepping in for regular number six Lee Briers who is sidelined with a hamstring injury picked up against Huddersfield Giants last weekend.

Other changes in the backline saw Paul Johnson move off the left wing to replace Bridge at right centre, with Simon Grix starting at left centre and Matt King moving on to the wing.

And in the pack, Wolves are without Adrian Morley (broken bone in hand), Louis Anderson (rib problem) and Paul Wood, with Paul Rauhihi joining Garreth Carvell as a starting prop.

Wolves: Chris Riley; Chris Hicks, Paul Johnson, Simon Grix, Matt King; Chris Bridge, Michael Monaghan; Garreth Carvell, Jon Clarke, Paul Rauhihi, Ben Westwood, Vinnie Anderson, Ben Harrison. Subs: Mickey Higham, Mike Cooper, Matty Blythe, Lee Mitchell.

Rovers: Shaun Briscoe; Peter Fox, Jake Webster, Kris Welham, Liam Colbon; Paul Cooke, Michael Dobson; Mick Vella, Ben Fisher, Scott Wheeldon, Clint Newton, Ben Galea, Scott Murrell. Subs: Makali Aizue, David Mills, Jason Netherton, Daniel Fitzhenry.