Halifax 21 Featherstone Rovers 12: Featherstone endure Cup final agony as Harrison’s tactics deliver rewards

He may have also upset his former Great Britain colleague Daryl Powell along the way but when the prize is so big he is clearly not perturbed.

Harrison’s players were similarly single-minded and determined as they produced an excellent defensive display in Blackpool yesterday, easing the pain of last year’s last-minute defeat here against Leigh.

When Halifax had lost to Powell’s Featherstone in the Championship three weeks ago, he had publicly been irked by the champions’ ‘wrestle’ technique and had reminded everyone of that in the build-up to this contest.

The speed of the ruck was certainly quicker here and it suited Halifax better but it was Harrison’s shock team selection which perhaps caught their arch-rivals more off-guard and ended the leaders’ 11-match winning run.

He started with captain Sean Penkywicz off the bench, sacrificing his influential hooker to throw another forward in to beef up his pack against a Rovers side who were overwhelming favourites.

“We probably spooked them a little bit by leaving Penkywicz out of the starting line-up, starting with a real big, physical team, taking a short kick-off... just changing the flow of the game from minute one,” said Harrison, who also led Batley to a shock win two years ago.

“I’d decided to do that three weeks ago but only announced it an hour before kick-off to surprise Featherstone and I think we did.

“I started a bit of a war of words, which I should probably apologise for, regarding this wrestle.

“But I’m not going to do as it’s part and parcel of the game.

“Sometimes you’ve got to do and say things you really don’t mean to get a response and we seemed to get a response – we got the gold.”

When asked if it was something his side did to deliver a faster pace or something else, he replied: “I just thought we played differently to how we did three weeks ago – a lot more push, a lot more deception, and didn’t allow Featherstone as much wrestle today.

“It was a very brave performance by the team. Featherstone put us under all sorts of pressure and we stood up and defended our line.”

Halifax scored through Anthony Thackerary as early as the fourth minute after they boldly won back that short kick-off and forced a drop out, but that was the last time they truly threatened the Featherstone line until Sam Barlow crossed again four minutes before the break.

However, the manner in which they consistently protected their own line, with such passion and aggression, ensured their opponents’ greater territory amounted to little. Dane Manning epitomised everything good about Halifax in that first half, the powerful second-row putting in a series of domineering and timely tackles.

Early on, he picked up and dumped Featherstone prop Stuart Dickens with a huge hit which clearly instilled belief in his colleagues and it was the former Batley man who snared Andy Kain as the Rovers stand-off tried scampering away towards the end of the period.

In between, Halifax’s line defence was exemplary. Both Sam Smeaton and Dickens got over but were either pushed back infield or held up.

The only blemish was when Liam Finn – in his 250th career game – dummied and shrugged off Lee Paterson to stretch over in the 26th minute, improving his own score. Rovers forward Michael Haley limped off soon after with a suspected broken foot before Barlow responded.

Nothing seemed to be on as he trudged up on to a rudimentary Paul Handforth inside pass 10m from the Rovers line.

However, as he was met by Dom Maloney and Ian Hardman both tacklers fell off – the latter as he tried to rip possession – to allow the burly forward a simple stroll to the posts.

It was hugely uncharacteristic of a Featherstone side that has prided themselves on their brutal defence since their last loss, a 60-12 Championship defeat to Halifax back in May.

Tyrer, who had skewed an earlier penalty wide, converted to put his side 12-6 ahead at the turnaround,

However, Featherstone enjoyed a perfect start to the second period when, just three minutes in, they capitalised from Makali Aizue’s fumble.

Greg Worthington darted close and, from the play-the-ball, Kain produced a nonchalant reverse flick pass for Smeaton who caught the blindside dozing.

Finn could not convert but he levelled with a 62nd-minute penalty when Craig Ashall collared Kain with a high tackle.

However, when Hardman allowed Paterson’s restart to bounce dead, it was Finn’s high tackle on Ashall that gifted Tyrer an easy two points in response.

When Penkywicz benefited from one of those quick play-the-balls Harrison had been searching for, they added an impromptu drop goal from Ashall in the 72nd minute but Featherstone still had chance to respond.

Handforth produced an unnecessarily daring chip inside his own half which Ashall picked up in an offside position, handing their opponents a perfect position from which to strike.

However, typical of their afternoon, Jon Grayshon dropped Finn’s pass early in the tackle count, relieving the pressure on Halifax.

It was fitting that Harrison’s side should secure the final score, Tyrer pouncing on Thackeray’s delicate grubber after Barlow had produced another off-load at the death.

The try-scorer converted and danced his way down the touchline back to his jubilant colleagues.

Halifax: Fieldhouse, Worrincy, Paterson, Tyrer, Reittie, Thackery, Handforth, Gannon, Robinson, Hesketh, Manning, Ambler, Ashall. Substitutes: Bowman, Aizue, S. Barlow, Penkywicz.

Featherstone: Hardman, Briscoe, Smeaton, Worthington, Saxton, Kain, Finn, England, Kaye, Dickens, Grayshon, Spears, Dale. Substitutes: Lockwood, Maloney, Haley, Bostock.

Referee: J Leahy (RLF).

We didn’t do ourselves justice, admits losing coach Powell

Featherstone Rovers coach Daryl Powell felt his misfiring side delivered their worst performance just when they required their best in the Northern Rail Cup Final defeat to Halifax.

The Championship leaders’ 11-game winning run came to a shuddering halt when they were edged out 20-12 by fierce rivals Halifax in Blackpool yesterday.

Featherstone were huge favourites but failed to find any of their usual rhythm illustrated perfectly when Jon Grayshon wasted a golden opportunity when trailing 15-12 in the latter stages.

However, Powell was also angered by the referee and performance of Jamie Leahy with his side receiving only one penalty in the second half.

“We didn’t do ourselves justice,” he admitted.

“We’ve turned up with our worst performance on the biggest 
stage.

“We finished our sets pretty poorly and that magnified itself when we got a chance with eight minutes to go but made an error on the third play.

“That was our chance to win the game but overall our performance was just way off our standards,” he said.

“We got beaten and credit to Halifax but I do feel there’s some poor agendas about at the minute and I’d like to get to the bottom of them.

“There’s some referee stuff that’s garbage.

“We are getting absolutely peppered every single week.

“Karl Harrison (Halifax coach) has been going on since the last time we played them about the ruck and he probably got what he wanted today.

“He who speaks loudest gets what he wants.

“I think referees at this level are very, very poor and until you get a grip of that there’s always going to be people like me talking about it.”

Despite the defeat in what was the club’s first Northern Cup Final appearance, Powell believes they can recover sufficiently to defend their Championship title.

“Halifax can have their day,” he said, with their West Yorkshire rivals just two points behind them in the League.

“We will come back stronger. We’ve got four games left and we want to finish top of the pile, that’s important to us.

“Then we’ve got a Grand Final to aim for and I suppose along the way we might bump into Halifax again.”