Progress obvious after Halifax open up with convincing rout

It was a game Karl Harrison’s team never once looked like losing and it is difficult to deny there are signs of progress.

The home team made the first break of the game, Steve Tyrer sprinting clear down the left before being rounded up by the cover, paving the way for two repeat sets as Paul Handforth and Thackeray both placed clever kicks into the in goal.

Thackeray and young loose forward Callum Casey both looked particularly threatening, but when the try finally arrived on eight minutes it came from the hooker Sean Penkywicz on the left. Tyrer kicked the conversion for a 6-0 lead.

The drought did not last long, though, Thackeray emerging from a scramble of players to pounce on Handforth’s dangerous cross kick on 16 minutes and Tyrer doubling the lead with the conversion.

It got worse for Hunslet just before the half-hour mark, Handforth lofting the ball deftly over the defence and Casey pouncing to score near the posts, with Tyrer making it 18-0.

The Hawks got a break soon after, Penkywicz ripping the ball out late in the tackle count, referee James Roby wiping it back to zero and replacement hooker Joe McLocklan sending the veteran prop Neil Lowe stretching under the posts.

The respite proved temporary as the home side continued to open gaps all over the field; Thackeray scoring a fine solo try.

Tyrer kicked Fax 24-6 up, and that became 28-6 on the final play of the half when centre Ben Heaton powered over.

The second half began as the first had ended, Joe Chandler barging on to Thackeray’s pass wide on the right and carting a posse of defenders over with him. At 32-6, substitute Scott Watson steadied the ship for the visitors with a try from Richard Blakeway’s pass.

The visitors briefly closed to within two points of a bonus point when they scored a third try, from the former Keighley and Rochdale forward Ryan Benjafield with 14 minutes to go.

Fieldhouse, who had been breaking tackles all game without quite managing to find open field, finally slipping his shackles to score from Handforth’s pass in the left corner.

Handforth, kicking in the absence of the injured Steve Tyrer, kicked the goal for 38-18 and was on target again four minutes from the end when Thackeray conjured the try of the match for Fax’s No 1, darting clear from halfway before slipping a round-the-man pass for Fieldhouse to score.

Halifax: Fieldhouse, White, Tyrer, Heaton, Worrincy, Handforth, Thackery, Gannon, Penkywicz, Hesketh, Chandler, Robinson, Casey. Substitutes: Bowman, J. Barlow, Ambler, Patterson.

Hunslet Hawks: Ratcliffe, Brickwood, Clayton, Davies, Tuffour, Allen, D. March, Yates, L. Haigh, L. Haigh, Lewis, Blakeway, Oakes, Benjafield. Substitutes: McLocklan, Watson, Toothill, Lowe.

Referee: T Roby (RFL).