Halifax Panthers demolish Batley Bulldogs to maintain top spot in Championship

HALIFAX PANTHERS 50 BATLEY BULLDOGS 6
CHRISTIAN LEE, The Shay, Sunday

HALIFAX continued their unbeaten start to the season with a nine-try demolition of Batley, blowing them away with six first-half tries, including a brace for Ben Crooks, before James Woodburn-Hall, Ben Tibbs and Tom Inman crossed for second-half scores.

The Panthers were red-hot from the off, quickly racing out to an early 12-0 lead.

In just the second minute a towering kick into the swirling breeze was fumbled by Jack Render into the grateful hands of Crooks, who touched down under the posts.

Owen McCarron then added a second when his low kick on the last tackle deflected off the post back towards the second rower, who regathered and dived over.

The Panthers continued to threaten and eventually extended their lead through Tibbs when a perfectly timed pass from Woodburn-Hall cut out two Batley defenders and Crooks was able to put the winger over untouched.

Moments later, Inman toed a kick into the in-goal. It was collected by Jack Hansen through the middle for Halifax’s fourth try.

Firmly in the box seat at this point and facing a tiring Batley defence, the Panthers ended the half with two more scores.

Crooks reached out and touched down for Halifax’s fifth following a rampaging break from the in-form Adam Tangata before, on the stroke of half-time, Adam O’Brien took advantage of slow markers to jump out of dummy-half and to put Woodburn-Hall through a gap for his second try of the season.

Louis Jouffret, despite the tough conditions, was flawless with the boot in the first half, adding the conversions for all six tries.

After such a breathless attacking effort in the first half, the vocal home fans would no doubt have been expecting more of the same. But it was their side’s defensive mettle that was tested early on after the break.

Batley looked to have created an overlap on the left but Elliot Kear’s pass back inside was knocked down by a Halifax defender before, in the resulting set, a last-ditch tackle from McCarron on Robbie Butterworth denied Batley their first score.

The Bulldogs’ best chance came shortly after when Ben White fashioned a low kick into the in-goal, but Jayden Myers bounced the ball as he attempted to ground it over the line.

After repelling the Batley attack, Halifax regained control and extended their sizeable lead when Woodburn-Hall powered over for his second try.

Tibbs then touched down in the corner for his brace following some good work from Crooks to get his arm free and offload in the tackle.

Jouffret was unable to add the conversions for the two scores.

After a strong performance at hooker, Inman wriggled over under the posts for what was Halifax’s final try and Jouffret brought up the 50-point mark with his conversion.

Perhaps deserved, given their second-half response, Batley had the final say with a consolation try from Wakefield loanee Myers, who crashed over in the corner. Woods converted the try from a tough angle.

GAMESTAR: Ben Crooks was a constant menace in attack and the Halifax captain was rewarded with two first-half tries.

GAMEBREAKER: Batley had begun to work their way back into the game after the opening scores, but quick-fire tries from Ben Tibbs and Jack Hansen extended Halifax’s lead to 24 points and ended the game as a contest.

MATCHFACTS
PANTHERS
1 Louis Jouffret
2 Ben Tibbs
20 Brad Graham
4 Ben Crooks
5 James Saltonstall
6 James Woodburn-Hall
7 Jack Hansen
8 Brandon Douglas
14 Tom Inman
17 Will Calcott
11 Owen McCarron
12 Adam Tangata
13 Jacob Fairbank
Subs (all used)
9 Adam O’Brien
19 Zack McComb
15 Connor Davies
16 Ronan Dixon

Tries: Crooks (2, 31), McCarron (10), Tibbs (23, 67), Hansen (28), Woodburn-Hall (38, 60), Inman (73)
Goals: Jouffret 7/9

BULLDOGS
1 Robbie Butterworth
19 Jack Render
28 Jayden Myers
2 Joe Burton
5 Elliot Kear
6 Ben White
7 Josh Woods
8 Adam Gledhill
9 Alistair Leak
35 Luke Thomas
3 Ollie Greensmith
4 Joe Arundel
14 Brandon Moore
Subs (all used)
23 Jonah Parsons
16 Michael Ward
33 Eliot Peposhi
22 Luca Atkinson