Crusaders 0 Wakefield Trinity 41: Traffic flows Wakefield's way after hold-up on motorway

England's World Cup match with Germany caused this game to be delayed until 6pm although Crusaders coach Brian Noble had been in favour of a 12.30pm start.

And, as it turned out, it would have been better for the match to have started earlier as a major delay, caused by an incident on the motorway around the Huddersfield area, meant that the Wakefield team bus was delayed severely en route to Wrexham.

Announcements were made that the kick-off would be put back to 6.45pm, then 7pm and finally 8pm.

But the visitors showed no ill effects from their troubled journey and almost scored inside the first three minutes.

They made the most of their next chance, though, when scrum-half Ben Jefferies went past the cover on the right to score, and half-back partner Paul Cooke converted from the touchline.

It turned into another of the Crusaders' common calamitous starts when Wildcats centre Darryl Millard evaded the defence to cross near the posts on 11 minutes.

The Crusaders went close to opening their account when centre Jason Chan was tackled just a yard short of the line but it was the intensity of a wide-awake Trinity that proved the difference.

They looked threatening each time they were in the home half, with interchange forward Michael Korkidas a particular nuisance.

Cooke increased the lead with a drop-goal before loose forward Jason Demetriou found a gap in the home midfield and just stretched far enough to ground the ball on the tryline.

It was just what Wakefield Trinity's coach John Kear would have wanted after three defeats in June since thumping Harlequins at Belle Vue on May 23.

And it got better when prop Charlie Leaeno drove through for a well-worked try two minutes into the second half.

The dynamic Jeffries continued to find gaps in the home defence, and the Trinity pack forced the pace up front.

Wakefield never let the Crusaders off the leash and added neat tries from Paul Johnson and wing Blanch, with Cooke keeping his faultless kicking record intact.

Blanch added another try as he went over out wide with three minutes to go but Cooke's conversion was too difficult for him to land this time.

However, that hardly mattered as Wakefield completed a comfortable victory.

Crusaders: Schifcofske, Dyer, Martin, Chan, Youngquest, Lupton, Hanbury, O'Hara, Withers, Bryant, Winternstein, Hauraki, Trimarchi. Substitutes: James, Peek, Flower, White.

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats: Blaymire, Blanch, Murphy, Millard, Morton, Cooke, Jeffries, Moore, Obst, Leaeno, Kirmond, Morrison, Demetriou. Substitutes: King, Johnson, Korkidas, Rinaldi.

Referee: Richard Silverwood (Dewsbury).