HUNSLET ARLFC 42 FRYSTON WARRIORS 0
PHIL HODGSON, OneBore Stadium, Castleford, Saturday

HUNSLET ARLFC achieved the probably-unprecedented feat of winning two newly-established trophies in the space of a week.

The south Leeds outfit, moreover, didn’t concede a point in either final.

Having prevailed in the inaugural National League Grand Final seven days earlier with a stunning 14-0 victory over West Hull, they lifted the 1973 Cup (which involved teams beaten in the first round of the National Cup) with a comfortable success over their National Conference Yorkshire B opponents.

Eleven of the players who saw off Wests also featured against Fryston with Craig McShane, who started in the centres before switching to his more familiar position of fullback in the second period, dominating the contest.

Caelum Jordan crossed in the eighth minute after telling approach work by Harry Shackleton and Josh McLelland to emulate his opening score in the Grand Final.

Craig McShane completed a raid involving Jack McShane and Lewis Heckford to grab his first touchdown, on 19 minutes, and Harry Dodd raced in from 70 metres after scooping up a grubber by the Warriors’ Mac Penny.

Ryan Morley bustled over to help establish an 18-0 lead, prior to Fryston’s Ryan Joseph having a try disallowed, with Craig McShane also missing out in reaching for the line.

Craig McShane, though, forced his way through a posse of defenders early in the second period and Alfie Goddard nipped in on the hour after pouching Heckford’s astute kick.

Jordan swept over off Dodd’s pass deep into the final quarter and, despite having Jamie Field sinbinned on 73 minutes when he was ruled to have tripped, Hunslet ARLFC closed in style with tries for Joe Abson – who romped in after being first to a Jack McShane kick – and young prop Ralph Normington, who converted his own score.

Harry Shackleton had previously landed one goal from five attempts and Heckford one from two, while Jordan missed his sole shot on a day on which most tries were scored out wide. 

The scoreline hardly reflected the nature of the contest, however.

Fryston had two tries ruled out, Joseph being adjudged offside in chasing irrepressible stand-off Calvin Sandhu’s kick shortly before half-time and Louie Tomlinson having a score vetoed on 52 minutes after a kick eluded Hunslet ARLFC’s rearguard (Fryston being awarded a penalty for obstruction).

Tomlinson’s ‘score’ followed a missed opportunity when Brandon Ward couldn’t quite control an attempted interception, leaving Hunslet ARLFC happily meeting their ‘ten-ten mantra’ of not allowing opponents to score more than ten points in a game, or of conceding more than ten penalties.

Their coach Sam Thorpe said: ‘Fryston were, as we’d expected, dogged opponents, and nilling them means a lot to us.

“It’s great to have won two new trophies, especially after we’d targeted three at the start of the season, only to miss out on the National League’s League Leaders Shield and the National Cup.

“But keeping Fryston scoreless after having done the same to West Hull shows where we are about.”

Fryston coach Kyle Kesik said: “I can’t fault our lads for effort, but it was always going to be difficult against a team who operates four divisions higher than us – and the fact that we hadn’t played for four weeks obviously didn’t help.”

GAMESTAR: Hunslet ARLFC’s Craig McShane, who presented Fryston with problems throughout and who scored two tries.

GAMEBREAKER: Ryan Morley’s try shortly before half-time established an 18-point lead from which Fryston couldn’t recover.

MATCHFACTS

HUNSLET
1 Josh McLelland
4 Caelum Jordan
3 Alfie Goddard
20 Craig McShane
2 George Rayner
6 Lewis Heckford
7 Harry Shackleton
8 Junior Rowse
9 Jack McShane
10 Jamie Field
11 Shane Jackson
12 Harry Dodd
17 McKenzie Haigh
Subs
13 Joe Abson
14 Ryan Morley
15 Josh Jordan-Roberts
16 Ralph Normington

Tries: Jordan (8, 67), C McShane (19, 45), Dodd (29), Morley (32), Goddard (59), Abson (75), Normington (79)
Goals: Shackleton 1/5, Heckford 1/2, Jordan 0/1, Normington 1/1
Sin bin: Field (73) – tripping

WARRIORS
5 Louie Tomlinson
2 Max Lambourne
3 Tom Wright
18 Mark Poppleton
1 Brandon Ward
22 Calvin Sandhu
6 Mac Penny
20 Mark Castle
9 Brad Moules
17 Rhys Bonser
14 Ryan Smith
12 Ryan Joseph
13 Connor Jordan
Subs
8 Jake Humphries
15 Jack Robinson
16 Reuben Walker
19 Dave Norton

SCORING SEQUENCE: 4-0, 8-0, 14-0, 18-0; 22-0, 28-0, 32-0, 36-0, 42-0

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Hunslet: Craig McShane; Warriors: Calvin Sandhu

Penalty count: 11-10
Half-time: 18-0
Referee: Oli Maddock