WOLVES centre Ryan Atkins says he revels in the banter between himself and teammate Ben Currie as the race to be the club’s leading try scorer hots up.

Second rower Currie has crossed the whitewash 16 times this season in all competitions, one more than fellow left-edge operator Atkins.

The 30-year-old’s impressive form has seen him nominated for July’s Super League Player of the Month award, but he has his eye on honours closer to home.

When asked if he had a target for his personal try tally, he jokingly replied “Just one more than Ben Currie!

“At Castleford the other week he could have put me away for a try but he decided to throw it in front of me and into touch so I’ve been giving him a bit of stick for that.

“I gave him a try on Saturday so I’m clearly not as selfish as him!

“We have a laugh and a joke about it but we know what’s best for the team, I know if I need to pass him the ball for him to score I will and vice versa but it’s nice to have that banter going on.”

While there may be competition between them in the try-scoring stakes, Atkins heaped praise on Currie and says he would select him for England if he were in charge.

Atkins was also coy on talk of an England recall, saying he is focused on his performances in primrose and blue.

“Ben and I take charge of our left unit and we’ve had a lot of consistency, I know he’s played in a lot of positions but we’ve had consistency in our left side and it’s been beneficial for us,” he said.

“He’s been awesome for us and he should be picked for England without a doubt.

“I can’t say I’ve thought about England, you always want to represent your country but after the last couple of years I know I’ve underachieved so this year I just wanted to do my best for Warrington and help us to get back winning silverware.”

Atkins and Currie look set to continue their partnership when Wolves take on Wakefield in the Challenge Cup semi-final at Leigh Sports Village tomorrow, Saturday.

The centre, who has won two Challenge Cup titles with The Wire in 2010 and 2012, says the team are keen to move on from last year’s semi-final defeat to Hull KR.

“There’s lots of lads in this squad that tasted defeat in the semi-final last year, we came up way too short and it’s still there in the back of our minds,” he said.

“We started on fire by scoring in the first couple of minutes but it just snowballed against us from there.

“Now we’ve got the likes of Gids who’s done a lot in his career but has never played at Wembley so I think we’re building it up nicely ready to peak on Saturday.”