OLDHAM 44 HUNSLET 0
IAN WILSON, Bower Fold, Sunday
HAVING won a nail-biter at Sheffield to get their league campaign back on track, this was a much more comfortable day at the office for Oldham.
After Hunslet had really impressed during the first ten minutes, albeit conceding once, the home side took virtually complete control, and eight tries to nil by the end brooked no argument.
With former classy centres Darren Abram and Keith Senior looking on from the sidelines, Hunslet attacked impressively in their first set of the game, with a towering Lee Gaskell kick earning a second set after it had bounced from the crossbar.
But as soon as Oldham had ball in hand, a superb miss-pass by mastermind Josh Drinkwater set Matty Ashurst free down the left channel, and Jake Bibby beat a man near the line to touch down in the corner.
Hunslet took the hint that moving the ball could pay dividends even in the wet, blustery conditions, and first made good yards down the left, before only a cracking, and brave, one-on-one tackle by Jack Walker on the flying Mo Agoro on the opposite touchline prevented the former Oldham favourite from bringing the scores level.
This was all in the first ten minutes – but, from there, Oldham took over. Although the visitors tried hard, with Ethan O’Hanlon running particularly strongly in the pack, and Dan Abram and Billy Jowitt, as well as Gaskell, never stopping trying to create something, they could not puncture what proved to be a superb Oldham defence all afternoon.
The home attack, on the other hand, showed itself to be clinical at times.
First, on twelve minutes, a well-constructed foray from inside their own half eventually led to Drinkwater sliding a grubber kick through the Hunslet defensive line, and a fumble allowed Walker, following up like the good fullback he is, to dot the ball down.
And Ben Davies added the third score just three minutes later, when a devastating sidestep close in allowed him to go over to the right of the posts.
Having missed his first two conversion efforts, Drinkwater succeeded for this try, as indeed he did for the further five his side added at intervals during the next 65 minutes.
Ashurst got the fourth, from close range off a Matty Wildie pass, though again a Drinkwater grubber had laid the foundations.
But it was Walker who brought the house down in the 28th minute, scoring his side’s fifth when a Hunslet fumble 70 metres from their own line enabled the elusive former Super League player to go completely solo through what remained of the visitors’ defence.
The rest of the contest was, in truth, something of an anti-climax. Although the Hunslet effort and commitment never faltered, they never really looked like beating the suffocating Oldham defence.
And although it would not be fair to say that Oldham put their cue in the rack after Walker’s second, it certainly seemed that their attacking gear dropped a little.
Nevertheless, there were three more scores, with Ryan Lannon getting one just before half-time, off a Jaron Purcell ball.
In the second half, Tom Nisbet, from a clever Morgan Smith chip-kick to his wing, and then Drinkwater, with a superb diagonal solo effort of his own, finished off proceedings.
GAMESTAR: Jack Walker coped with his defensive duties impeccably as well as scoring two quality tries, and regularly giving good support to Oldham’s attacking structures.
GAMEBREAKER: When Ben Davies went over for Oldham’s third try in only the 15th minute, the writing was on the wall for Hunslet.
MATCHFACTS
OLDHAM
1 Jack Walker
21 Tom Nisbet
4 Ben Davies
3 Ben O’Keefe
5 Jake Bibby
6 Morgan Smith
23 Josh Drinkwater
15 Ted Chapelhow
9 Matty Wildie
27 Bayley Liu
11 Matty Ashurst
26 Brad Day
18 Jaron Purcell
Subs (all used)
12 Ryan Lannon
13 Adam Milner
14 Cole Geyer
24 Marcus Geener
Tries: Bibby (3), Walker (12, 28), Davies (15), Ashurst (24), Lannon (36), Nisbet (47), Drinkwater (67)
Goals: Drinkwater 6/8
HUNSLET
7 Dan Abram
5 Mo Agoro
27 Charlie Graham
3 Myles Harrop
18 Jimmy Watson
6 Lee Gaskell
1 Billy Jowitt
8 Harvey Hallas
14 Cam Berry
26 Ethan O’Hanlon
11 Harrison Gilmore
15 Emmerson Whittel
13 Eddie Battye
Subs (all used)
16 Elijah Simpson
19 Mason Corbett
20 Liam Carr
25 Alfie Leake
SCORING SEQUENCE: 4-0, 8-0, 14-0, 20-0, 26-0, 32-0; 38-0,44-0
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Oldham: Jack Walker; Hunslet: Lee Gaskell
Penalty count: 6-4
Half-time: 32-0
Referee: Scott Mikalauskas
Attendance: 978