Halrequins RL boss Brian McDermott blamed a flu epidemic and not the spectre of becoming Super League leaders for last Saturday's 19-12 home defeat by Warrington.

A third poor second-half showing in succession cost Quins their unbeaten record and the chance of topping the table after four games.

The club's start to the season has surprised most observers and February's sickness-ridden triumph at Hull KR led some to believe a win over Wolves would be a formality.

McDermott insists Quins did not underestimate the challenge of Paul Cullen's visitors after letting slip an early 12-point advantage.

"To be top of Super League is something we wanted, but isn't the be-all and end-all at this stage of the season," he said.

"We talked about it in the dressing room briefly, but that is part of the bigger picture and our main focus was on the game in hand.

"I think we were still recovering from the flu symptoms because we looked out on our feet in the second half."

Scott Hill and Danny Orr threatend to run riot in the opening quarter, which saw Quins race into a 12-0 lead.

Aussie stand-off Hill combined with fit-again full-back Mark McLinden to put Matt Gafa in for the first - converted by Paul Sykes - before Orr sent Hill through for the second seven minutes later.

But Quins couldn't hold on to the advantage as Wolves hit back with 19 unanswered points of their own.

Martin Gleeson scored within a minute of Hill's score and the advantage was slashed further when Henry Fa'afili went over in the corner.

The New Zealand international repeated the trick eight minutes after half-time - with skipper Lee Briers missing the extras - and Stuart Reardon added a try on 64 minutes.

Chris Bridge added the two points before Briers wrapped up the scoring with a drop goal, to leave McDermott looking for a return to winning ways with a daunting trip to Wigan on Friday.

"They are a massively different side to the one we beat at the end of last season and will have adjusted to Brian Noble's methods over pre-season," added the rookie coach.

"They lost at home last week, but I don't know how many times they have lost two home games back-to-back, which says something about how tough it will be."