Warrington overpower Wildcats in battle of the brothers
Last Updated: 13/07/15 10:14am
Tony Smith came out on top in the battle with his older brother Brian as Warrington kept alive their top-four hopes with a hard-fought 40-20 win over bottom club Wakefield.
Australian half-back Jacob Miller scored all four tries for the Wildcats, who again showed some encouraging signs of a revival in atoning for the humiliation of an 80-0 Super League record-equaling defeat by the Wolves in April.
But it was not enough to deny Warrington and their coach the spoils in the first head-to-head coaching clash of brothers in Super League.
It was a sixth successive away win by Warrington over the Yorkshiremen and was never really in doubt from the moment they took a seventh-minute lead.
Unable to call upon the services of a trio of forwards due to suspension, Tony Smith switched the versatile Stefan Ratchford to loose forward and, playing in a third different position in as many weeks, he opened the scoring when he supported a break by prop Chris Hill and Gareth O'Brien kicked the extras.
The Wildcats were slow into their stride but full-back Kevin Locke, making his second appearance following his arrival from Salford, showed his class with a cut-out pass that almost found former Warrington winger Chris Riley.
It began to look ominous for the home side when winger Jordan Tansey attempted a rash offload near his own line to gift a try to second rower Joe Philbin as the Wolves led 12-0 after 12 minutes but Miller, who has found his best form under Brian Smith, kept Wakefield in contention by half-time with two opportunist tries.
He darted over from dummy half after second rower Matty Ashurst had been brought down short on 17 minutes and went on a jinking run for his second four minutes before half time.
In between Miller's touchdowns, full-back Matty Russell used his strength to force his way over for his first try for four months and second rower Ben Westwood also touched down after centre Ryan Atkins had stolen the ball in a one-on-one tackle from Locke.
Three minutes into the second half, Miller showed his class again, regaining possession for his side with a grubber kick on the last tackle and forcing his way over from dummy half to complete his hat-trick.
He was off target for the second time to leave his side trailing by eight points but the game was taken away from Wakefield in a decisive four-minute spell in which Warrington demonstrated their superior individual flair with two long-range tries.
Reigning Man of Steel Daryl Clark opened up the home defence with a dummy to sprint over from 40 metres out before scrum-half Richie Myler's one-handed take enabled him to finish off a break by replacement hooker Brad Dwyer.
Unlike in the reverse fixture, the Wildcats were in no mood to capitulate this time and, after Michael Sio and Scott Anderson went close, Miller went over for his fourth try, dribbling the ball through the Warrington defence to touch down.
Craig Hall added the conversion but the visitors had the final say when Russell went through a tiring defence for his second try four minutes from the end.
