Derrell Olpherts made four tries, and Lachlan Walmsley, a former Fax player, excelled at full-back, leading Wakefield to a 46-24 victory over the Panthers and extending their league winning streak to twelve games. Walmsley started the game in place of Mason Lino, who had to withdraw due to a persistent toe injury.
He set up two tries, one for Olpherts and one for Oliver Pratt, and then scored one himself, as Wakefield’s left edge controlled the game for the majority of the first half. Although the Panthers briefly reduced Wakefield’s 28-6 halftime advantage to ten points, Olpherts’ two additional tries proved too much for Liam Finn’s team to overcome.
Wakefield head coach Powell said after the game:
“There were changes before the game as Mason pulled out with a toe problem that we knew about but we thought he’d be alright to get through the game. We had a bit of a reshuffle there.
“Lachlan at full-back he caused them a lot of trouble and Max (Jowitt) ended coming up with some real smart plays. We are dangerous on the left edge with the ball. They pulled some smart stuff together.
“I thought, in large parts, we were very good. The start to the second half was pretty loose. We got rattled a little bit and made a few errors, a couple of penalties and then we conceded and looked vulnerable. A couple of bits for us to work on there. That was our worst 20 minute period, just after half-time.
“At half-time, at 28-6 up, it looks like the game is a foregone conclusion at times. I think there is a lesson there for us. Hopefully it doesn’t happen to us again but Halifax are a good attacking team. If you look at their scores, they are generally high scoring games. They concede a fair few points but they also score a few and I thought Gareth Widdop gave them an attacking edge at the start of the second half. I don’t think we handled it that well.
“Luckily we got a foothold back into the game and we started to be a bit more consistent with the ball, which got us some points.”
He added: “We are pleased with the win. We are still 100 per cent and we want to to keep that tag. I would like us to be more consistent over 80 minutes. We are starting halves a little bit slow.
“We have to earn the right to play and we have to do that every week. We have shown consistently that when we put our foot down we are quite tough to deal with. Halifax posed us a lot of questions today and some of them we didn’t deal with so well.”
Regarding Olpherts’ impressive performance, scoring four tries on his milestone 200th career appearance, Powell commented:
“It’s great that isn’t it and scoring on the back of some quality play. He took his little one out onto the field and that is always awesome, on a landmark day for Derrell.
“Four tries is great finishing. I was really pleased with what he did.”
Opposite number Finn said: “There were periods in the game where had we got it right at that point we might be talking about something a bit different.
“I was disappointed with that ten minutes before half-time where we had a little bit of momentum and we got into Wakefield’s half. We had weathered and taken a lot of punishment on our line and defended resiliently and carried out of our end for 30 minutes.
“We were just getting a little bit of something our way and then we make an error on tackle two off the drop out, forcing it, and then we make an error in the very next set on the 40 and kill any momentum we had in the game.”
On Wakefield’s left edge performance, Finn said:
“When you are on the back foot everyone will just blame the edge defenders but there is a lot more to it. They are a challenge at the best of times when the ball is 50-50 and possession is even. But when you put yourself on the back foot by making errors and you’ve earned the right to have a bit of time in their half, it’s been a long grind and it puts everybody under pressure.
“They are sat at the top of the table for a reason. They keep doing things well over and over again and if you are not quite at it you are going to put everyone under pressure and with the skill they have got, they are generally going to get you on the edge.”
On why Gareth Widdop, who got Fax back into the contest at the start of the second half, started from the bench, Finn revealed:
“He missed training on Thursday for unforeseen circumstances and that was the main day for game plan. Gaz is a professional and he understands how important training is. No but
“We did most of our prep for today on Thursday so it made common sense to go with Louis who did really well, barring the drop out.”
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