Wakefield Trinity 16 Widnes Vikings 24: Wildcats boss Smith taking positives out of Widnes defeat

Wakefield finished 11 points adrift at the foot of Super League last year and only held on to their top-flight status thanks to a victory over Championship side Bradford Bulls in the one-off million pound match.

Since then coach Brian Smith has brought in a host of new faces, five of them featuring in yesterday’s 24-16 defeat and has had a full pre-season with his team.

Wakefield’s defence already looks to have improved from last year and they played some enterprising rugby at times, but the old failing of making unforced errors at important times proved costly.

Wakefield took an early lead when Stuart Howarth dummied over from close range, but penalties allowed Widnes to put the home defence under pressure.

Setaimata Sa crossed from Kevin Brown’s pass before Lloyd White’s offload was finished by Rhys Hanbury, who went on to convert all four of the visitors’ tries.

A mix-up between Ben Jones-Bishop and Tom Johnstone handed Sa his second touchdown, making it 18-4 at the interval and it took a brilliant tackle by Bill Tupou to prevent Corey Thompson extending Widnes’s lead after the full-back spilled the second-half kick-off.

Wakefield went on to outscore Widnes in the final 40, without ever looking capable of pulling the game from the fire. Their two tries were outstanding efforts, Reece Lyne profiting from excellent handling and a final pass by Joe Arundel and then Liam Finn and Jones-Bishop combining to put Michael Sio in. Both were converted by Finn, either side of Widnes’s fourth try, scored from close-range by White after Jones-Bishop had fumbled Joe Mellor’s kick to concede a scrum.

“I think the pluses probably outweigh the minuses, for today at least,” Smith reflected afterwards.

“I was pleased with the way we went about playing a strong, physical game against a very strong, physical team.

“Our boys did a pretty good job at that for most of the game, but the errors and some first-half penalties in particular really hurt us.”

Wakefield Trinity Wildcats: Jones-Bishop, Johnstone, B Tupou, Arundel, Lyne, Miller, Finn, Scruton, Howarth, England, Ashurst, Kirmond, Arona. Substitutes: Sio, Anderson, A Tupou, Molloy.

Widnes Vikings: Hanbury, Thompson, Bridge, Runciman, Ah Van, Mellor, Brown, O’Carroll, White, Dudson, Sa, Farrell, Cahill. Substitutes: Dean, Manuokafoa, Houston, Heremaia.

Referee: P Bentham (Warrington).