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{ (UKPA) – 2 hours ago

Warrington were counting the cost of their surprise opening-day defeat by Huddersfield, with two players sent to hospital.

Australian centre Matt King was the biggest casualty of the 28-18 defeat in the opening match of the Magic Weekend in Cardiff after being carried off on a stretcher with suspected knee-ligament damage.

"We'll wait until we get the seriousness of it," said Wolves coach Tony Smith. "Lee Briers is also going to hospital for x-rays on his neck but hopefully it's precautionary."

Warrington also lost Mike Cooper (shoulder), Simon Grix (dead leg) and Chris Bridge (hamstring), leaving Smith with no substitutes in the closing stages.

"We're not in great shape," said Smith.

The Wolves enjoyed the better start and took the lead with a fourth-minute try from debutant Australian winger Joel Monaghan but they paid the price for a series of handling errors and lapses in discipline.

"Our opponents deserved to win," added Smith. "They played a bit better than us. We were far from our best. It was very frustrating. We need to improve and we will. I've got to say there were some courageous boys out there and to fight back at the back end of the game with no subs showed what we're about as a club."

Huddersfield ended Warrington's 2010 season with victory in the play-offs and today's opening victory suggests they will once more be challenging for a trip to Old Trafford but coach Nathan Brown was far from satisfied with their performance.

"I thought we were very scrappy from an attacking point of view but from a defensive point of view for 65 or 70 minutes we were really good," he said.

"To beat Warrington in round one is always pleasing. I thought we were the better team but we're going to need to improve a lot."

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