Warrington Wolves 24 Hull FC 12: Hull looking for cutting edge to make step up to title contenders

They have already secured Exiles stand-off Daniel Holdsworth from Salford City Reds for next term and possibly need another to give them the attacking options they so badly lacked on Saturday night.

That’s when Hull’s current season came to an end, not through any lack of willingness or determination but a simple absence of quality creativity.

They may have racked up more than 150 points against Bradford, Castleford and Huddersfield in the build-up to this preliminary semi-final but none of those have the sort of defensive fortitude that Warrington possess.

Against this side, there would be no easy scores, everything had to be worked hard for and, when it mattered, Hull just did not have the requisite guile to break down such a well-organised and grizzled opponent.

It shouldn’t be a surprise – Warrington finished second to Hull’s sixth – and there was no embarrassment here.

Indeed, when 24-0 down just after the hour, it could have got messy, but Peter Gentle’s side struck to their task and earned two late tries which were suitable reward for their endeavours.

But if they are to build on the progress made by the Australian this term they have to invest at half-back.

In the peerless Briers, whose kicking game was again exceptional, and the rapier thrust of Myler, Warrington had playmakers who constantly asked questions.

Hull’s counterparts Aaron Heremaia and Brett Seymour could not be faulted for effort but their execution and decison-making was too often fractionally too slow.

Against that aforementioned trio of sides such deficiencies could be masked but here it inevitably meant they were routinely muffled by dogged Warrington’s all-consuming defence.

The hosts – who had severely botched their first attempt at progress with a home defeat against St Helens – were in no mood to relinquish their hopes of moving towards a maiden Grand Final appearance.

Everyone knows Saints-bound Willie Manu is Hull’s main strike threat but it is another thing stopping the marauding Tongan.

Rarely, though, in all of his 165 games for the East Yorkshire club can the robust second-row have been kept so quiet than in this his final outing.

The hosts had also clearly targeted Seymour defensively too, fellow Australian Trent Waterhouse powering down his channel at every opportunity although the scrum-half admirably stood up to the task on most occasions.

It was partly because of that and his colleagues’ similarly steely defence that Hull were still in the game trailing just 12-0 at half-time despite Warrington having most of the decent possession.

Tony Smith’s side, missing England forwards Garreth Carvell and Ben Westwood, had also showed some profligacy whether it be Mickey Higham carelessly knocking on in their first attacking set, Brett Hodgson – of all people – doing so soon after or Paul Wood spilling after Hull had seen off three sets on their own line, they certainly lacked their usual crispness.

Given Warrington’s regular failures in the play-offs – they have won three of the last four Challenge Cup finals but have still yet to negotiate a way to Old Trafford – if the Black and Whites could have preyed on that nervousness they could have perhaps caused more doubt and taken control.

Instead, though, they lacked their own spark too and were undone in the resulting war of attrition.

Warrington capitalised when Danny Houghton fired a needless forward pass 30m from his own line, second-row Waterhouse mopping up after Jordan Turner failed to deal with Briers’s hanging kick.

In fairness, the Hull centre seemed to be leaned on by Ryan Atkins while he was in the air and Wolves were certainly fortunate to win the video referee decision.

Gentle’s side fired into the hosts from the re-start, Joe Westerman and Lynch driving Adrian Morley back before Chris Hill endured similarly stifling defence to demonstrate Hull’s obvious desire.

Westerman was a little too keen, put on report for a high tackle on Michael Monaghan which will be analysed by the match review panel this morning, but gritty Hull continued to show resilience.

However, it was another error that cost them, Manu coughing up the ball in his own half.

Liam Watts charged out to put Briers under pressure but the rest of his defenders weren’t as swift meaning, when Myler accepted his pass, the effervescent scrum-half had just enough space to utilise his acceleration and burst through between the posts.

Hodgson converted both scores and it meant, undoubtedly, Hull had to score first in the second period. They earned an early penalty but Seymour frittered it away with a forward pass although his kick saw Hull finally get close, Heremaia taking Tom Briscoe’s offload but was bundled into touch.

Hull buckled again when a grabbing Heremaia was swatted off by Stefan Ratchford who then brilliantly dinked through a kick which rebounded off the post perfectly for him to collect.

Hull had their best two chances in as many minutes but, crucially in such tight contests, they failed to take either. Mark O’Meley’s short pass should have furnished Heremaia with a try but the Kiwi could not take possession while, after Briscoe had broken clear, Turner tried to squeeze out an offload to Jamie Foster which just bounced forward at the line.

Typically, Warrington struck again when Heremaia fumbled Lynch’s pass, Myler just getting on the outside of the Hull captain in an obvious mismatch and his searing pace taking him clear for Hodgson to finish and add his fourth conversion. Then came that late surge with Briscoe latching on to Heremaia’s perfectly-judged grubber and Ben Crooks running a great line to hit Richard Horne’s slip ball from a scrum-move.

Foster improved both and, with nine minutes remaining, some of Warrington’s old self-doubt seem to momentarily resurface.

However, they managed to hold their nerve and now head to Saints on Saturday for the opportunity to finally reach Manchester.

Warrington: Hodgson; Riley, Ratchford, Atkins, J Monaghan; Briers, Myler; Morley, Higham, Hill, Grix, Watershouse, Harrison. Substitutes: M Monaghan, McCarthy, Cooper, Wood.

Hull: Horne; Foster, Turner, Yeaman, Briscoe; Seymour, Heremaia; Watts, Houghton, Lynch, Manu, Westerman, Aspinwall. Substitutes: Crooks, O’Meley, Pitts, Green.

Referee: R Silverwood (Mirfield).