Tony Smith has praised his side’s attacking efforts following their 42-4 victory over Wakefield Trinity on Sunday afternoon.
The Black & Whites ran in seven tries in a professional display against Mark Applegarth’s side, claiming their fifth win from their last six home league fixtures.
Speaking in his post-match press conference, Smith said: “The players knew what was needed, and they came up with those (attacking) plays.
“We talked about it at half-time, just some change of direction and coming back against the grain of play worked well. When we did those sorts of plays, the change of direction, or the big steps—Jake Clifford did a few of those, and Cam Scott too, stepping back on the inside—we found some holes and some ways of getting through the line.
“When we did that more consistently, we had some success. There were some good rugby league tries out there. It was good. I loved some of the support play through the middle and some of those passes around the back of the opposition, offloads, and some nice passages.
“We put ourselves under pressure at times because of some overplay, but listen, sometimes you’ve got to live by the sword and die by the sword. I’m encouraging them to play, and a couple of those tries we scored were fantastic pieces of play.
“You can’t deny them trying to come up with fantastic pieces of play to try and unpick your opponents. Sometimes, there’s just a different way to do it. We got more consistency in the way that we went about it in the second half, and our opponents fell away a bit too. Once we put them under some pressure, set after set, it really hurt them. It hurts every team, but we coped with ours pretty well.”
On his side’s defensive efforts, he added: “I like the way we defended our try line. It got back to some of the times when we were playing okay. Defensively, it looked more similar to some of our performances when we were travelling well.”
Smith picked out some of his side’s key performers, including half-back pairing Jake Trueman and Jake Clifford.
“I thought both of the Jakes played a big part. I thought they combined well, and they both looked dangerous and came up with some terrific plays.
“They were good on the ball and did some really good stuff. I’m not sure about some of our last plays; some were a bit unorganised at times in the first half. That’s not just down to the half-backs, but they can sometimes calm things down and have an influence. I thought both the Jake’s at times were brilliant.”
He added: “I’m going to mention a few who really caught my eye as well and led the way. I thought Danny Houghton again; his line speed was outstanding. We’ve been missing some of that, and he set a bit of a tone and a bit of a platform for us.
“I loved the way Cam Scott played. He’s growing and growing and growing with confidence and looking sharp. I thought he was terrific and really stood up.
“I thought Scott Taylor, who has missed a couple of times and had some time off recently, was really good in the middle. He got a late call-up. He was supposed to come off the bench, but he adjusted. A couple of the old-timers are really coming through for us.
“I thought Andre’s second half was really strong too, and it was good off the back of some recent news for us. I think it was important for him to be strong and let everyone know that he is playing for the club right through to the end. That’s really good for Andre.”
Tony Smith is proudly sponsored by Rowe Freight.
STORY SPONSOR
