Sheffield open Shield account as Aston piles pressure on Marshall's Halifax strugglers

It took only three minutes for Sheffield to open the scoring, Scott Wheeldon collecting Keal Carlile’s pass on the last tackle before crashing over. Cory Aston converted.

An error from Carlile from the kick-off gave Fax the ball straight back. A short pop off pass from hooker Ben Kaye was met by a charging Luke Ambler and he couldn’t be stopped from five metres out.

Gareth Moore added the extra two before the hosts went ahead.

Another short ball – this time from Scott Murrell – was met by Adam Tangata who wasn’t going to be halted from close range. Moore again converted.

Sheffield’s Laulu-Togagae exploited poor defence from Richard Marshall’s side to close the gap to two points, as 
Aston missed his conversion attempt.

The game was only 18 minutes old when former Halifax man Rob Worrincy added his name to an already long list of scorers.

Aston’s high kick wasn’t dealt with by Will Sharp and Worrincy had the simple task of planting the ball down.

The crowd of 1,228 were getting their money’s worth in terms of tries. Murrell’s grubber kick was taken by his half back partner Gareth Moore who dived on the ball to put Fax back in the lead. Moore then converted his own try.

The lead lasted only a few moments. A needless offload from Richard Moore gave Sheffield the ball back and only a couple of plays later replacement Adam Neal went over under the posts. Aston again reliable with the boot.

Aston added another Eagles four pointer before Stan Roban tagged on another try with Aston converting before the break.

Six tries with four conversions for Mark Aston’s side in the first half gave them a 14-point lead at the break.

In an afternoon of rare positives, Chester Butler, a former Brooksbank School student, made his debut for Halifax. Another one of the recent graduates from the Reserve Grade side.

Garry Lo opened the scoring in the second stanza by somehow squeezing in down the left-hand side of the Fax defence. Aston wide with the kick from the touchline.

Soon after, Tangata got his second of the afternoon from Moore’s neat kick, but that was about as good as it got in the second period for Halifax.

Matt James and Lo added two late tries to leave Richard Marshall looking for answers after a fourth defeat in a row.

Halifax face Bradford Bulls at Odsal next week.

Halifax: Johnston, Sharp, Barber, Heaton, Saltonstall; G Moore, Murrell (c); Cahalane, Kaye, Boyle, Bennion, Tangata, Ambler. Substitutes: R Moore, Butler, B Moore, Morris.

Sheffield: Laulu-Togagae, Worrincy, Yere, Chappell, Lo; Robin, Aston; Thorpe (c), Carlile, Wheeldon, James, Straugheir, Margalet. Substitutes: Tyson, Fozzard, Neal, Mexico.

Referee: A Sweet (RFL).