Head coach Alan Kilshaw declared himself pleased overall following the Parksider’s 54-10 Betfred League 1 victory at Cornwall at the weekend.
The Parksiders, after having gone 12-0 up through tries by Nathan Conroy and Adam Ryder, found themselves only 12-10 ahead at the break, the Choughs having hit back with touchdowns for Cam Brown and former Hunslet man Tom Ashton, with Adam Rusling adding a conversion.
But the south Leeds outfit, who had lost Sam Hallas to the sin-bin, got back into gear on the resumption, posting unanswered tries by Lewis Wray, Johnny Campbell, Jordan Syme, Alfie Goddard – with an 80-metre interception – Josh Jordan-Roberts, Joe Burton, man of the match Danny Barcoe and, marking his 50th professional appearance, Jack Render.
Michael Knowles landed six goals and Morgan Punchard converted the last two tries in what was Hunslet’s first game, other than in the Jimmy Watson Testimonial match against Drighlington, for a month.
`Killer’ said: “You could tell, after we’d started well in the first half, that we’d had a lay-off. Our transition from attack to defence was a bit rusty, we were allowing opponents to get passes out of three-man tackles, and we drifted away from our game-plan. We rectified those aspects at half-time in what wasn’t a heated debate, as there was no need for concern. I’d faith in our players to put a couple of issues right and they did just that, yet again keeping the opposition scoreless in the second half, which is something we’ve done on five or six occasions this season.
“Only London Skolars have scored against us in each half so I have to be pleased with how we performed overall. Our leadership group of Steve Crossley, Michael Knowles, Sam Hallas and Harvey Hallas did its job very well, and I have to pay tribute to our board who provided everything for us, sorting accommodation for us the night before the match, and travel. That really is appreciated, as is our travelling support. It’s not cheap getting to Cornwall, especially in this day and age, and our fans really do get behind us, which matters a lot.”
He concluded: “Given that we suffered no injuries, it was a good day all round. Render and Joe Burton shone, and Daniel Barcoe went well off the bench, but our ultimately comfortable win was due to a good all-round team performance, earned despite being without Jimmy Watson, with his long-term finger injury, Aaron York (tonsilitis) and Jake Sweeting (quad).”