Recap
A Hunslet side that currently had no wins faced a Workington team who had won their last two, at a freezing cold South Leeds Stadium, but Hunslet did not look like a team without a victory dominating the play from the kick off. As with the last two weeks, Hunslet applied all the early pressure with David March’s kicking proving a thorn in the Workington side. After 5 minutes, the visitors were forced to drop out from their own goal line and soon afterwards the Hunslet pressure told. Quick hands and fluent play lead to David March making a break and cutting inside two Workington defenders to score the first try of the game between the posts. March kicked the simple conversion to give Hunslet a 6-0 lead.
Shortly after, some neat play between David March and Danny Grimshaw almost increased Hunslet’s lead but Workington snuffed out the danger just short of the line. Workington were making no headway due to the brilliant defence from the Hawks. A penalty for a high tackle on 28 minutes gave David March a chance to increase the lead which he duly did, giving Hunslet a well deserved 8-0 lead. By this time Hunslet were totally dominant and looked like scoring every time they went forward and on 37 minutes all their pressure was rewarded. A storming run and an impressive spin out of a tackle put Joe McLocklan over the Town line, again added to with David March’s kick. Some brilliant passing along the Hunslet line was not rewarded with the result it deserved when Workington held them just short of the line on the stroke of half time.
Hunslet came out in the second half in much the same vein as the first, combining strong running with the ball and determined defence right in the Workington players faces. One move was broken down by the ever impressive Tommy Haughey stealing the ball on a rare Workington foray into Hunslet territory. It was just a matter of time before the Hawks got over the Workington line again and this time it was Paul March, who had been a constant nuisance to Workington. From a play of the ball he picked up and ran around the Town defence to score a well deserved try on 52 minutes, added to by brother David. Seven minutes later Tommy Haughey, making a brilliant diagonal run, powered over for an excellent touch down. David March took his personal tally to 14 points in the game after easing over the kick.
As Workington started to get frustrated the seemingly inevitable punch up broke out, which resulted in the dismissal of a Town player by the referee with just a couple of minutes left on the clock. It was obvious to see that Workington were not going to score and on 80 minutes Hunslet took advantage of the disorganised Workington defence when Stuart Kain tore them apart, flying past the Town defenders to score in the corner, The extras were not added but Hunslet had taken the game 30 nil as a result of an excellent team performance.
Two week’s ago at Oldham Paul March blamed the loss on playing as individuals rather than a team. This performance suggests that the message has been taken onboard by all the players, as today’s game was all about team work. Even so, some individual performances stood out, including the March brothers, Waine Pryce, Tommy Haughey and Man of the Match Stuart Kain. Well done to all the Hunslet players. Hopefully on today’s performance we can look forward to more victories as the season continues.
Paul March himself commented after the game, “I’m proud of the boys, especially the way we defended. We were undone by late defensive lapses last week, so it was good to keep them out today. After a couple of good victories, Workington must have been full of confidence, so it is good to have beaten them. We must now focus on Sheffield next week.”
See you next Sunday at The Don Valley stadium as we take on the Sheffield Eagles in the final group game of the Northern Rail Cup.
Niamh Wilson