Halifax 14 Sheffield Eagles 12: Halifax on the rise after Eagles get their wings clipped at Shay

Matt Calland’s side, who went into the game with a one-from-eight record that had left them joint-bottom of the league ladder with Toulouse, took an 11th-minute lead when back row Stephen Bannister sliced over on the left after slick handling from Sean Penkywicz and Bob Beswick.

Half-back Danny Jones kicked the conversion, but Sheffield hit back on when full back Quentin Laulu-Togagae rounded off a break from Danny Mills to score in the corner and cut the deficit to 6-4.

The Eagles then went ahead on the half-hour mark with an Alex Szostak touchdown, although again the prop Mitchell Stringer was unable to convert, leaving the game poised at 8-6 at the break.

Halifax regained the lead 12 minutes into the second half, Penkywicz slipping through the line from close range to make it 10-8.

Two penalties in in the 65th and 67th minutes, both kicked by Jones, gave Halifax a six-point buffer at 14-8.

But the home side were still indebted to another miss from Stringer, who was unable to convert winger Vinnie Finnigan’s 72nd-minute try from the sideline.

The closing minutes were tight but then enlivened by a brawl, which eventually saw the visitors’ prop Alex Rowe and Halifax’s Australian back-rower Dylan Nash sin-binned by referee Warren Turley.

Halifax: Greenwood; White, Paterson, Goddard, Worrincy; Jones, Beswick; Gannon, Penkywicz, Cherryholme, Smith, Bannister, Fairbank. Substitutes: Nash, Aizue, Clayton, Watene.

Sheffield Eagles: Laulu-Togagae; Mills, Yere, Crookes, Finnigan; Wood, Brown; Howieson, Henderson, Stringer, Szostak, Green, Hirst. Substitutes: Taulapapa, Hanson, Rowe, Hepworth

Referee: W Turley (Leigh)

[email protected]