Harlequins 40 Wakefield 22: Kear’s Trinity blown away by Gale

The stand-off grabbed a try, created two others and booted 12 points as the men from the capital tasted victory for the first time in 13 games, as Wakefield failed to follow-up the previous week’s win over Huddersfield Giants.

Trinity coach John Kear said: “As tight and composed as we were last week we were loose and soft today.

“We have a real problem putting back to back performances together.

“Harlequins ran harder, tackled harder and showed greater desire.

“If you want to be a Super League player you cannot just expect things to happen – you have to have the hunger. There were a lot of areas for us to pick up on.”

Quins, with recent loan signing Kyle Briggs starting at scrum-half, looked menacing straight from the kick-off and took the lead after just four minutes.

Chris Bailey cut through the Wakefield defence and after he was held, Chad Randall was on hand to give the try-scoring pass to Gale.

Wakefield were looking for a win that would take them out of the bottom two for the first time this season, but they were struggling to get any momentum.

And Kear’s men fell further behind on 17 minutes, Bailey taking a short pass from Gale to coast under the sticks, Gale again converting.

The Wildcats needed a lift and they so nearly got it on 24 minutes, Jarred Hickey barging his way over the line only to be held up by strong Quins defence.

That blown opportunity loomed large moments later, when Luke Ambler created a gap for Gale, who had Luke Dorn on his shoulder to storm to the line and open up an 18-point lead.

Things got even better for the Londoners on the half-hour mark, Tony Clubb bursting through a host of tackles to push Quins past the 20-point mark.

Missing captain Glenn Morrison, Wakefield were looking a sorry bunch and a series of handling errors was hardly helping their cause.

But after Randall gave away a needless penalty, the visitors claimed their first score right on half time when Dale Morton darted over in the corner.

After the break Quins took their foot off the gas, giving Wakefield the sniff of a comeback.

The visitors were unable to force the issue though and fell even further behind on 51 minutes, Chris Melling crashing over in the corner after a neat Randall pass.

Things went from bad to worse for the away side shortly afterwards, scrum-half Jeremy Smith seeing yellow for dissent.

But to their credit Wakefield kept pressing and after a Julien Rinaldi kick forced Dorn into a fumble behind his own line, the French hooker pounced to cut the deficit.

Any thoughts of a stirring fightback though were quickly suppressed by the hosts, Jamie O’Callaghan racing clear to set up Randall before O’Callaghanwent over. The Wildcats adding late scores through Hickey and Paul Johnson.

Harlequins: Dorn, Melling, Clubb, O’Callaghan, Calderwood, Gale, Briggs, Ward, Randall, Wilkes, Burnett, Mitchell, Bailey. Substitutes: Krasniqi, Ambler, Ellis, Thomas.

Wakefield: Tony, Morton, Murphy, George, Griffin, Moore, Smith, Korkidas, Davey, Amor, Mariano, Dean, P. Johnson. Substitutes: Henderson, Rinaldi, Higgins, Hickey.

Referee: R Hicks (RFL).