Wakefield Trinity maintain unbeaten start after surviving first half scare from Batley Bulldogs

Caleb Uele, Oliver Pratt, Liam Kay, Derrell Olpherts and Josh Griffin all got on the try sheet in the second 40 as Trin scored 28 unanswered points to make it 14 wins out of 14 in the Championship.

But that only tells half of the story as they found themselves in unfamiliar territory at the break - Batley’s eye-catching 12-6 half-time lead, thanks to tries from Dale Morton and Brandon Moore after Olpherts’ eighth try in three games for Wakefield, was the first time Trin had been behind going into a second half league game at home so far this season.

But, with the pressure on, Wakefield showed their full-time superiority with a clinical second half performance.

The leaders haven’t been at their fluent best since beating Sheffield Eagles in the 1895 Cup final last month.

But they are proving really difficult to beat over 80 minutes. And Daryl Powell made changes to the side which beat Barrow Raiders 36-0 in Cumbria last weekend. Lachlan Walmsley came in for Jermaine McGillvary, Iain Thornley in for Jack Croft, Ky Rodwell replaced Josh Bowden, Luke Bain came in for Renouf Atoni and Harvey Smith was a very late replacement for Liam Hood. Isaac Shaw came onto the bench.

And the much-changed side looked fluent and dangerous in the early stages as the in-form Olpherts continued his fabulous tryscoring streak by crossing in the corner. He scored four here against Halifax Panthers a fortnight ago before adding another hat-trick at Barrow last Sunday.

The winger nearly made it a quickfire double when he rose highest to claim Luke Gale’s high bomb but he could not keep hold of it.

But the Bulldogs slowly grew into the game. Kay’s pass out wide was intercepted by Joe Burton who knocked on. If he had gathered the ball cleanly, he was away.

A series of referee decisions seemed to go in Batley’s favour, culminating in an incorrect play-the-ball decision, much to the frustrations of the home fans, which resulted in Morton diving over in the corner with Luke Hooley converting.

More crowd unrest soon followed as knock on and a decision against Uele, where he was alleged to have tackled Hooley as the Castleford Tigers man kicked the ball, gave Batley further impetus. And the visitors took full advantage when Moore found a gap after great work by Hooley, who converted for a 12-6 lead.

Wakefield were stunned. But they were definitely not out of it. And they came out fighting in the second half, showing they were up for the challenge with the excellent Jay Pitts dragging down Hooley on the last tackle.

Pitts then seemed to be taken out off the ball as the noise levels rose around the ground. And Trin seemed to respond as the powerful Uele proved too strong for Michael Ward and the Batley defence.

Oliver Pratt, just two minutes later, then sensationally went from deep inside his own half to establish Trin’s lead. A lead they were determined to keep hold of this time. The converted try also marked a half century of league points for Powell’s men.

504 and counting.

And there were more to come. Kay went over after 60 minutes before Olpherts made it nine tries in three games to continue his fine individual record. Josh Griffin completed the scoring with the last play as Trinity maintained their unbeaten start.

Wakefield: Jowitt, Walmsley, Thornley, Pratt, Olpherts, Gale, Kay, Rodwell, Hood, Bain, Ashurst, Griffin, Pitts

Interchanges: Uele, Croft, Shaw, Smith

Tries: Olpherts (2), Uele, Pratt, Kay

Conversions: Jowitt (5)

Batley: Butterworth, Morton, Buchanan, Senior, J Burton, White, Hooley, Gledhill, Moore, Cooper, Manning, Walshaw, Brown

Interchanges: O Burton, Flynn, Ward, Kibula

Tries: Morton, Moore

Conversions: Hooley (2)

Attendance: 5,112