THEY were given the chance to perform on the big stage on Friday night, and Warrington Wolves’ academy players certainly took it.

With their clash with Huddersfield Giants moved to be the curtain-raiser fixture for the Super League fixture between the two clubs, the youngsters could strut their stuff in front of the building crowd at The Halliwell Jones Stadium.

And those supporters who arrived early to cheer them on certainly saw the best of them, with the young Wires racing out of the blocks and into a 28-0 lead.

There was a response of sorts from the Giants after the break, but nowhere near enough to get close to the hosts, who closed out a 38-20 victory to keep up the pressure on leading pair Wigan Warriors and St Helens.

Flynn Holden starred with a hat-trick of tries from the wing while Charlie McKler, Charlie Walker, Lachlan Webster and Daniel Regan also touched down.

If they are to continue competing at the top end of the competition, however, academy head coach Mark Smith insists there are plenty of lessons for them to learn.

“We started the game well, demonstrating our ability to control ruck speed and then use this to our advantage in attack displaying fluidity in good ball enabling us to put early pressure onto Huddersfield and them conceding a succession of points,” he said.

“Other pleasing parts was at times our resilience on our goal line, defending a stint of 16 consecutive plays.

“A disappointing part was our unforced errors which then caused more defending and a negative cycle leading to their 20 points.

“A vital lesson we must learn to ensure we are competing at the top of the table.”

It took Wire just six minutes to open the scoring, with Holden profiting from Cai Taylor-Wray’s superb long pass before McKler powered over from Pat Irwin’s inside ball to stretch the lead.

Then, the hosts moved through the gears – Walker picked up a loose ball to score before Regan stepped through the challenge of two defenders for his touchdown.

And when Holden was sent over by another sumptuous Taylor-Wray pass, a dominant scoreline looked to be in the pipeline.

However, Huddersfield would not go quietly and Roman Sharma and Jacob Algar scored either side of the break to get them on the board.

Beau Morrison also scored a long-range interception try for the visitors but by that stage, Holden had completed his hat-trick having been set up once again by Taylor-Wray and once Webster collected a kick and raced the length of the field for a memorable try, the game was over as a contest.

Morrison’s second try at least ensured Huddersfield had the final say, but this was another strong night’s work for the young Wolves, whose next fixture sees them take on St Helens at the Totally Wicked Stadium in another curtain-raiser fixture on Friday, July 19.

Wolves: Cai Taylor-Wray; Lachlan Webster, James Duffy, Zack Gardner, Flynn Holden; Pat Irwin, Daniel Regan; Charlie McKler, Lewis Barratt, Isaac Reid, Charlie Walker, Kian Stanton, Jake Ramsden. Subs: Junior Westwood, Alfie Mather, James McGuire, Daniel Hackney. 18th: Ben Pearce