Mood turns after Wolves crash to an unexpected defeat

From the archive, first published Wednesday 23rd May 2007.

Warrington Wolves 4

Harlequins 17.

PAUL Cullen bravely applauded the fans for their support during Saturday's game but many in the South Stand were not interested.

The Wolves boss had refused to hide away after the final hooter but the derision hurled back at him by a section of the crowd told the story of how the mood has changed with one unexpected defeat.

Just over a month ago, fans gave the players a standing ovation after the 52-10 home loss to Leeds.

But that was against one of Super League's title contenders when Wolves were without nine players.

Now only Chris Bridge, Michael Sullivan and Simon Grix were absent through injury yet Wolves under-performed catastrophically in a match they had been expected to win.

It was a bad time to produce by far their worst display of the season - just when they need victories to catch their rivals in the top six.

Wolves had such a strong squad available that they left out winger Richie Barnett, although they did lose their star player of recent weeks, Vinnie Anderson, who left the field with a hamstring complaint after 35 minutes.

But the writing was already on the wall by that stage, with Harlequins 8-4 ahead against a strangely subdued Wolves side.

Rob Purdham's grounding for Quins' second try appeared dubious but Wolves got away with it minutes later when Matt Gafa knocked on over the line after Henry Fa'afili had left Danny Orr's grubber kick to run dead.

The visitors were missing key players Scott Hill and Henry Paul but had the greater spirit, drive and creativity.

Wolves skipper Lee Briers looked distinctly out of sorts and, without Anderson, there was no spark in a match that made the FA Cup Final look like a classic.

Wolves were no less wasteful in possession than they were against Barrow and without any attacking threat they were always going to be in trouble, such is their defensive record at home.

They have won just two of their seven league games at The Halliwell Jones Stadium this season, conceding an average of 31 points per match along the way.

"We were very ordinary," Cullen said. "I didn't think we worked hard enough to push Harlequins back. We were very flat."

Match facts.

engage Super League

Round 14, May 19, 2007.

Warrington Wolves 4

Harlequins 17.

Wolves: Stuart Reardon; Henry Fa'afili, Martin Gleeson (1t), Paul Johnson, Brent Grose; Vinnie Anderson, Lee Briers; Paul Rauhihi, Jon Clarke, Chris Leikvoll, Ben Westwood, Adrian Morley, Mike Wainwright. Subs used: Rob Parker, Paul Wood, Mark Gleeson, Ben Harrison.

Quins: Chris Melling, Tony Clubb, Paul Sykes (1dg), Tyrone Smith, Matt Gafa (1t); Mark McLinden, Danny Orr; Karl Temata, Chad Randall, Daniel Heckenberg, Rob Purdham (1t, 2g), Lee Hopkins, Joe Walsh. Subs used: Luke Burgess, David Mills, Julien Rinaldi (1t), Jon Grayshon.

Referee: Ben Thaler

Scoring: Morley knocks on and McLinden darts around Briers to put Gafa over from the scrum, 19mins, 0-4; Westwood breaks past McLinden and Hopkins before finding the supporting Martin Gleeson, 22mins, 4-4; Orr exploits a weakness in the Wolves defence by kicking through the line before finding Purdham with a second kick and the England captain's try is allowed to stand by the video referee despite a suspect grounding, 33mins, 4-8; Rinaldi bursts through a huge gap and foxes Reardon with a show and go before touching down near the posts, 40mins, Purdham converts, 4-14; Johnson is penalised for playing the ball before he had been tackled and Purdham lands 20m goal, 79mins, 4-16; Sykes kicks 20m drop goal, 80+mins, 4-17.

Pens: Wolves 7 Quins 8.

Scrums: Wolves 9 Quins 9.

Attendance: 7,818.

Warrington Guardian top men: Westwood 3pts, Martin Gleeson 2pts, Mark Gleeson 1pt.

Interesting note: The last time Wolves scored less than six points in a match was the 22-2 home defeat to Salford in September 2002.