MIDLANDS HURRICANES 46 SIDDAL 0
IAN GOLDEN, Alexander Stadium, Sunday
MIDLANDS HURRICANES eased through to the third round of the Challenge Cup against a Siddal side that was never really in the game.
The community side did have a few spells with the ball, especially in the first half, but they rarely looked like seriously troubling the Hurricanes’ defence.
In contrast, the Hurricanes scored eight tries, with goalkicker Jake Sweeting adding conversions to all but the last.
It took less than two minutes for Midlands to take the lead, as Sweeting eased over in his side’s first set of the game.
The second came on eleven minutes after a period of Midlands pressure when Aaron Willis dived over after his side won a six-again.
Siddal did try to spring the odd surprise on the Hurricanes in the first half, such as kicking on the third tackle more than once, but they were unable to do much more to challenge their more experienced hosts.
However, they did have a few chances, especially as they won the scrum count 6-1 in the first half (it was 10-5 by the end), and they could have got a score back on 20 minutes when a dropped ball on the Hurricanes’ 10-metre line gave the Halifax amateurs their best chance of the game, but loose hands of their own meant the opportunity was wasted.
And following some more pressure from the visitors, Midlands scored their third from a good length of the field set culminating in a dive from dummy-half by Danny Barcoe to make the score 18-0 at the break.
It was 24-0 following the first set of the second half when, pouncing on a dropped ball, Tom Wilkinson ran over to score.
As the sweeping rain continued, with the direction of it affecting Siddal in the second half a lot more, so did the errors. Another dropped ball led to another Midlands try, this time from Matty Chrimes, who dived over in the corner.
From kick-off, they scored again when Tom Horner ran 50 metres easily through a tiring Siddal line to get his side’s sixth.
Then on the hour, Ellis Hobson got the seventh try, diving under the sticks from a quick play-the-ball, making the kick easy for Sweeting.
And after winning a goal-line drop-out and blocking it less than 20 metres from the line, Midlands got their eighth in yet another dive from close range that Siddal couldn’t defend. Aiden Roden was the try scorer, with Sweeting blotting his copy book by hitting the post with the goal attempt.
Only a disallowed try for a forward pass prevented the half-century.
GAMESTAR: Danny Barcoe gave a solid performance and was rewarded with a try.
GAMEBREAKER: Midlands’ first score of the second half sealed the game early on.
MATCHFACTS
HURRICANES
1 Todd Horner
2 Matty Chrimes
3 Ryan Johnson
4 Ross Oakes
24 Matty Hanley
6 Jake Sweeting
7 Callum McLelland
8 Jon-Luke Kirby
14 Aiden Roden
20 Elliott Morris
11 Tom Wilkinson
15 Aaron Willis
13 Mikey Wood
Subs: (all used)
9 Danny Barcoe
16 Ellis Hobson
18 Zeus Silk
19 Marcus Green
Tries: Sweeting (2), Willis (11), Barcoe (31), Wilkinson (42), Chrimes (47), Horner (50), Hobson (60), Roden (69)
Goals: Sweeting 7/8
SIDDAL
1 Lewis Hosty
2 Oli Lewis
3 Harvey Williams
4 Henry Turner
5 Sam Walsh
6 Harry Milnes
7 Christian Ackroyd
8 Josh Milnes
9 Jamie Greenwood
10 Adam Horner
11 Conner MacCallum
12 Dan Williams
13 Danny Rushworth
Subs (all used)
14 Dan May
15 Mikey Holmes
16 Canaan Smithies
21 Harry Georgiou
SCORING SEQUENCE: 6-0, 12-0, 18-0; 24-0, 30-0, 36-0, 42-0, 46-0
Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Hurricanes: Danny Barcoe; Siddal: Conner MacCallum
Penalty count: 6-3
Half-time: 18-0
Referee: Kevin Moore
