Wigan Warriors boss Matt Peet watched Harry Smith kick leaders Warrington Wolves into touch and insisted: “He can get even better.”
The uncapped scrum-half, 23, got an England call-up on Thursday. And he celebrated barely 24 hours later by outplaying England star George Williams as Wigan ruthlessly ended Wolves’ eight-game winning start. Peet said: “Harry works hard on his kicking game. Tommy Leuluai's done a good job there mentoring him. He practices incredibly hard and it’s something that's going to get better.
"It certainly makes it easier for the lads to defend the way they are doing when they've got kicks to go after like Harry puts in. But the lads work hard to lay the foundation to put Harry into position to kick; our defence backs his kicks up and vice versa. I was pleased with our display against a very good team who challenge you. We knew we had to be at our best. Our commitment was great.”
Australian full-back Bevan French set up both first half tries for Jake Wardle and Brad O’Neill before Smith settled matters with a 66th minute drop goal. But Warrington were gutted after seeing Josh Drinkwater and Greg Minikin have late efforts chalked off by the video referee. Boss Daryl Powell said this would be his side’s biggest test so far and he was right. But Wigan - so strong defensively - were too streetwise as they backed up last week’s win over champions St Helens to move within two points of the leaders.
French’s brilliant cut-out pass put Wardle over untouched inside six minutes against the club he was on loan with last term. Smith couldn’t convert and Wigan prop Brad Singleton also limped off at the same time. That was a big boost for Warrington who were missing four front-rows through injury and suspension. Powell gave teenage prop Lucas Green a debut from his lightweight bench.
He must have feared getting blown away by Wigan’s more experienced replacements including England’s Kai Pearce-Paul, new England call-up Ethan Havard and New Zealander prop Patrick Mago. But it became a real battle. Liam Marshall and French both bombed try-scoring chances before the visitors did extend their advantage with a controversial 26th minute try.
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Their fourth replacement - hooker O’Neill - looked to be offside when running on to claim French’s clever infield chip on the full and stretch over. But the try was given for Smith to make it 10-0 with Warrington barely having a look-in. Warrington hit back when teenager Matty Nicholson - fresh from his own England call-up - angled over against his former club before the break. Stefan Ratchford improved but Smith tagged a penalty on at the start of the second period and added that drop-goal.
Warrington made too many unforced errors in the rain and, even though Minikin's 'try' looked legitimate, Powel had no issues overall. He said: "There’s some real lessons for us in playing wet weather rugby league. We’ll learn those and be a better team for it. I didn’t think tonight, we were anywhere near as good as we wanted to be. Wigan played the conditions better than us. I thought Harry Smith kicked really well and they dominated territory."
