HUNSLET 4 OLDHAM 54
CHRISTIAN LEE, South Leeds Stadium, Sunday
RUTHLESS Oldham ran in ten tries as they cruised to victory over bottom-of-the-table Hunslet.
Wingers Mathieu Pons and Jack Johnson both crossed twice for the Roughyeds in the big win, with Hunslet’s only reply coming in the form of a late consolation from Liam Welham.
Oldham thought they had their first in the opening minutes when Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e touched down a deft kick from Josh Drinkwater, but he was ruled to be offside.
This was a short reprieve, however, as moments later Drinkwater dummied past a fractured Hunslet defensive line and touched down before adding the conversion from out wide.
Pons and Johnson then swelled the visitors’ lead with two more quick-fire tries midway through the half.
The Frenchman was first to a deft kick into the in-goal from Drinkwater for his first try of the afternoon, before Johnson strolled over in the corner when a well-timed pass from Danny Craven created space out wide.
Drinkwater could only tag on the goal for the first of the two scores.
Ten minutes after his first try, Pons acrobatically crossed for his second, which was set up by an initial break from Laulu-Togaga’e and then a smart tip on from centre Ben Davies, who had no time to catch and pass. Drinkwater was off-target with the conversion.
Although Oldham dominated with the ball in hand, Hunslet were consistently the architects of their own downfall, gifting the visitors easy territory through handling errors and ill-discipline.
From Pons’ try, Greg Eden’s kick-off sailed into touch and in the resulting set Laulu-Togaga’e outmuscled the Hunslet defenders and found a way to the line.
Drinkwater added the conversion from in front of the posts.
Although a tall task at 26-0, any hopes of a second-half turnaround were quashed when, late in the half, Gil Dudson crashed over from close range and Ryan Lannon shot through a gap on halfway created by a smart pass from Craven to score Oldham’s sixth and seventh tries.
Drinkwater added the goals for both scores to make it 38-0 at the break.
Hunslet provided more fight in the second half, but their resistance was broken on the hour mark through back-to-back tries.
Éloi Pélissier snuck over from dummy-half to stretch Oldham’s lead beyond 40 points, before Drinkwater broke from deep and found Ted Chapelhow back inside to score under the posts.
Off the back of another penalty, Oldham crossed for their tenth and final try of the afternoon when slick hands created space for Johnson to dive over for his second.
Ben Davies was given the kicking duties, but he was off target from the touchline.
After a tough afternoon, the Hunslet faithful were rewarded with a late consolation try when Welham dived on a well-weighted kick into the in-goal from Lachlan Hanneghan.
Jowitt was off-target with his conversion attempt, making the final score 54-4.
GAMESTAR: Josh Drinkwater was at the heart of a ruthless Oldham attack, crossing for the game’s first try and having a hand in many of their subsequent scores.
GAMEBREAKER: It was a stretch to imagine Hunslet could come back from 26-0 down, but the two tries late in the first half from Gil Dudson and Ryan Lannon extinguished any hopes of an improbable turnaround.
MATCHFACTS
HUNSLET
16 Greg Eden
21 Coby Nichol
19 Liam Welham
39 Ryan Westerman
5 Mackenzie Turner
6 Lachlan Hanneghan
4 Billy Jowitt
18 Brad Clavering
14 Cam Berry
26 Ethan O’Hanlon
31 Kevin Larroyer
22 Harrison Gilmore
25 Kobe Rugless
Subs (all used)
13 Jordan Syme
17 Keelan Foster
27 Sam Campbell
– Brett Bailey
Tries: Welham (75)
Goals: Jowitt 0/1
OLDHAM
31 Phoenix Laulu-Togaga’e
20 Jack Johnson
7 Riley Dean
38 Ben Davies
39 Mathieu Pons
6 Danny Craven
23 Josh Drinkwater
30 George Hirst
14 Bailey Aldridge
15 Jay Chapelhow
11 Matty Ashurst
37 Ryan Lannon
13 Adam Milner
Subs (all used)
40 Éloi Pélissier
19 Ted Chapelhow
8 Gil Dudson
– Zane Musgrove
Tries: Drinkwater (8), Pons (16, 26), Johnson (19), Laulu Togaga’e (31), Dudson (38), Lannon (40), Pélissier (59), T Chapelhow (61), Johnson (65)
Goals: Drinkwater 7/9, Davies 0/1
SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-6, 0-12, 0-16, 0-20, 0-26, 0-32, 0-38; 0-44, 0-50, 0-54, 4-54
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Hunslet: Josh Drinkwater; Oldham: Ryan Westerman
Penalty count: 9-1
Half-time: 0-38
Referee: Kevin Moore
Attendance: 711