Halifax 42 Sheffield Eagles 16: Convinving Halifax end Eagles' journey

HALIFAX booked consecutive Championship Grand Final appearances with a comprehensive win over Sheffield Eagles at the Shay last night.

Matt Calland's side led 24-6 at half-time, snuffing out the threat of the in-form Eagles and setting up an all-Yorkshire showdown with Featherstone at Warrington's Halliwell Jones Stadium on Sunday week.

It took more than 20 minutes for a breathrough when Eagles wing Danny Mills claimed a cross kick from stand-off Brendon Lindsay and Simon Brown converted for a 6-0 lead.

The home side were not behind for long, with substitute hooker Sean Penkywicz exchanging passes with Kiwi prop Frank Watene before scooting under the posts on 28 minutes. Lee Paterson kicked the conversion and Halifax, almost against the run of play, suddenly took a stranglehold.

Australian scrum-half Ben Black dummied through the line to force the ball over the whitewash just past the half-hour, Paterson kicking his side into a 12-6 lead.

Then Sam Barlow, the former Sheffield forward who defied the threat of legal action by his former club to play, barged under the posts, Paterson on target for 18-6. And when Mills spilled a Graham Holroyd bomb in the seconds leading up to half-time, Halifax's Papua New Guinea forward Makali Aizue took Black's offload to charge over the line, Paterson making it 24-6 with the kick.

Halifax made a flying start to the second half, Paterson finishing well from what appeared to be a forward pass and kicking his side into a 30-12 lead. Sheffield hit back through an Alex Rowe touchdown, but a long-range score from Halifax's former Eagle Rob Worrincy and a Paterson conversion re-established the status quo.

Shad Royston was next over the line for Halifax before Tangi Ropati got a consolation touchdown for the Eagles.

Halifax: Royston; White, Paterson, Nash, Worrincy; Holroyd, Black; Cherryholme, Beswick, Aizue, Wrench, Larder, Barlow. Substitutes: Penkywicz, Watene, Maloney, Bannister.

Sheffield: Cottle; Mills, Yere, Ropati, Bergin; Lindsay, Brown; Howieson, Cook, Stringer, Szostak, Hirst, Exton. Substitutes: Rowe, Haley, Hepworth, Henderson.

Referee: Robert Hicks (Oldham).