MIDLANDS HURRICANES 38 SWINTON LIONS 26
IAN GOLDEN, Alexander Stadium, Sunday
MIDLANDS won a thriller where the result was in doubt until they scored their seventh try on the stroke of full-time.
Both sides suffered a yellow card, but Midlands didn’t concede a try in the time when they were down to twelve men, whereas they managed to score twice when Swinton had a man in the bin.
The Hurricanes started well, but the Lions’ defence held firm to see out three successive sets.
At the other end, the Midlands’ defence, led by the mercurial Danny Barcoe, was also outstanding, especially at the play-the-ball where they were able to shut down their opponents.
It was only because they gave away a sixth-minutes penalt that Swinton were able to get into the Midlands half in the first ten minutes.
Following that brief Lions attack, Midlands went upfield again and as a result of another dropped ball, Matty Chrimes ran over in the corner from a scrum to give Hurricanes the lead, though he couldn’t convert his own try.
The Lions, taking advantage of a Hurricanes handling error, struck back on 16 minutes when Tommy Porter dived over from short range and Dan Abram converted.
They took the lead ten minutes later as George Roby was sent through a gap in the Midlands defence to run under the posts, again making the kick easy for Abram.
Hurricanes soon struck back, however. After winning a scrum on Lions’ ten-metre line, Luis Roberts was sent over in the corner. Chrimes couldn’t convert from the touchline.
But Swinton went into the break 14-8 ahead after Zeus Silk was sin-binned for an illegal tackle 20 metres from goal and Abram slotted over the penalty just before the hooter blew.
As soon as Silk returned, however, Midlands scored. Roberts ran 70 metres to be tackled just short of the line, but soon afterwards Tom Wilkinson dived over for his side’s third try. Chrimes kicked the goal to level the scores.
And then, after Gav Rodden was sin-binned for a similar challenge to Silk, Midlands took advantage. From the resulting penalty, Ellis Hobson dived over to score, and Ross Oakes was next over after Midlands won a scrum 20 metres from goal. Chrimes converted both for a 26-14 lead.
Swinton quickly hit back. Winning a penalty in the Midlands’ half, a strong set resulted in Will Roberts breaking through the line to score. Abram converted to bring the score back to 26-20.
But as soon as the Hurricanes went back onto the attack, they scored again. This time Chrimes had space to run down the wing for his second try of the game before adding his fourth goal to re-open the two-try cushion.
They tried to make it three as Midlands won the ball back after completing a set ten metres out. Matty Hanley laid a crunching tackle on Frank Sergent, giving Midlands possession again ten metres out. Roberts thought he’d scored from the resulting set, but the try was ruled out due to a double movement.
From the penalty, Swinton hit back. A length-of-the-field set ended with Rodden scoring and Abram converting.
The gap was back to six points and, with two minutes to go, Swinton were looking to level the scores.
But a desperate pass flew into touch and Midlands took advantage as, from the final set of the game, Jon-Luke Kirby ran over from dummy half to seal the win, with Chrimes kicking the goal.
GAMESTAR: Danny Barcoe had a hand in creating several tries and also defended well.
GAMEBREAKER: When Midlands regained possession with a minute to go with the gap at just six points.
MATCHFACTS
HURRICANES
1 Todd Horner
25 Luis Roberts
24 Matty Hanley
4 Ross Oakes
2 Matty Chrimes
21 Sully Medforth
14 Aiden Roden
8 Jon-Luke Kirby
9 Danny Barcoe
20 Elliot Morris
11 Tom Wilkinson
15 Aaron Willis
16 Ellis Hobson
Subs (all used)
26 Ethan Newboult
18 Zeus Silk
19 Marcus Green
12 Josh Jordan-Roberts
Tries: Chrimes (8, 69), Roberts (30), Wilkinson (51), Hobson (55), Oakes (59), Kirby (80)
Goals: Chrimes 5/7
Sin bin: Silk (39) – illegal challenge
LIONS
19 Dan Abram
5 Harry Higham
2 Ellis Anderson
34 Konrad Hurrell
25 Frank Sergent
31 Will Roberts
6 Jack Stevens
8 Adam Sidlow
18 Tommy Porter
33 Alfie Sinclair
11 Gav Rodden
36 Jake Davies
13 Kenny Baker
Subs (all used)
9 George Roby
15 Jordan Brown
22 Aaron Lynch
10 Bobby Shingler
Tries: Porter (16), Roby (26), Roberts (64), Rodden (76)
Goals: Abram 5/5
Sin bin: Rodden (54) – illegal challenge
SCORING SEQUENCE: 4-0, 4-6, 4-12, 8-12, 8-14; 14-14, 20-14, 26-14, 26-20, 32-20, 32-26, 38-26
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Hurricanes: Danny Barcoe; Lions: Will Roberts
Penalty count: 5-5
Half-time: 8-14
Referee: Geoffrey Poumès
Attendance: 623