Swinton Lions 18 Hunslet Hawks 24

Ian Rigg reports from Leigh Sports Village

Hunslet Hawks made it two wins from two to move into a strong position to qualify for the next stages of the Northern Rail Cup.

The visitors had the better start to the game and put pressure on the Lions line but the home defence was solid. The Lions had the first major chance when Ian Watson cut through the Hawks defence before handing on to Dale Cunniffe but his return pass to Watson near the line was intercepted by David March and the chance went. Hawks moved down field and Luke Helliwell made a nice break but instead of passing to the support he kept hold of the ball and was tackled and the chance went.

Hawks took the lead on ten minutes when Helliwell sent a kick to the corner and Lee Brickwood took the ball in the air to score in the corner and Danny Ratcliffe converted off the touch line. The Lions then had another chance when Watson and Mark Smith worked well near the line to almost send Martin Ainscough over but the Hawks defence held out. Just after this Adam Higson was the victim of a spear tackle which caused both sides into a scuffle which Thierry Alibert had to sort out before awarding the penalty to the Lions. From this penalty Ainscough got over the line the try was cancelled out for a double movement.

The Lions scored their first try in the twenty second minute when a Hawks player lost the ball in his own thirty and the Lions swooped on it and the ball moved swiftly to the left for Tom Armstrong to go over in the left corner and Ian Mort added the conversion from the touchline. The Hawks regained the lead ten minutes later when the Lions were penalised close to their own line and centre Ryan Clayton raced over in the right corner for the try but Ratcliffe could not convert. Kevin Penny had a chance to score in the dying seconds of the half but ran out of space as he went for the try in the left corner.

The Lions took the lead on forty-five minutes when the Hawks were penalised for off side in their own ten and Ainscough dummied his way over for the try to which Mort again converted. The lead didn't last long when six minutes later Josh Nathaniel went over on the left for the try after the Lions had been penalised for obstruction but again Ratcliffe could not convert. The game was very nip and tuck and Gavin Dodd added the Lions third try on fifty-eight minutes when Watson sent a floated kick to the corner and Dodd reacted the quickest to score in the corner to which again Mort added the conversion.

Karl Ashall almost scored what could have been an excellent try on the hour when he chipped the Hawks defence regathered and chipped them again with the line open but somehow Ratcliffe managed just to win the race to stop the attack. Clayton added his second try for the Hawks on sixty-nine minutes when he scored in the corner and Danny Allen converted from the touchline to put the visitors back in the lead once more. Both sides then had chances when firstly Brickwood went close for the Hawks just to be dumped into touch as he went for the corner and then Ainscough had another chance for the Lions but Ratcliffe pulled off the telling tackle.

Ratcliffe made a fantastic break two minutes from time with Nathaniel in support but with the line open the pass to Nathaniel went to ground and the chance went but Helliwell made the game safe with about thirty seconds left when he dived over to score in the corner but Allen could not add the conversion but the game was already in the bag for the Hawks.

Teams:

Lions-

1.Ian Mort

2.Gavin Dodd

3.Adam Higson

4.Tom Armstrong

5.Kevin Penny

6.Martin Ainscough

7.Ian Watson

8.Danny Meekin

9.Mark Smith

10.Neil Holland

11.Lee Wingfield

12.Darren Hawkyard

13.Dale Cunniffe

Subs :

14.Mike Morrison

15.David Mills

16.Karl Ashall

17.Chas I'Anson

Tries : Armstrong (22), Ainscough (45), Dodd (58)

Goals : Mort 3/3

Hawks:

1.Danny Ratcliffe

2.Stuart Kain

3.Dave Clayton

4.Josh Nathaniel

5.Lee Brickwood

6.Luke Helliwell

7.Danny Allen

8.Andy Yates

9.Luke Haigh

10.Steve Lewis

11.Richard Blakeway

12.John Oakes

13.David March

Subs:

14.Joe McLocklan

15.Steve Dooler

20.David Tootill

17.Ryan Benjafield

Tries : Brickwood (10), Clayton (32,69), Nathaniel (51), Helliwell (80)

Goals : Ratcliffe 1/3

Allen 1/2

Ref: Thierry Alibert

ATT : 475

Pens : 7-12

H-T : 6-10

Prog Score : 0-6,6-6,6-10,12-10,12-14,18-14,18-20,18-24

Men of Match

Lions : Darren Hawkyard

Hawks : Danny Ratcliffe

Gamestar : Danny Ratcliffe : The Hawks fullback was involved in most things his side did and he pulled off some try saving tackles too.

Gamebreaker : Luke Helliwells try in the dying seconds. Before that the game could have gone either way.

Coaches comments:-

Steve McCormack :

Disappointed with the result in the end but thought it was a good end to end game and it could have gone either way. We gave away too many penalties and must get that sorted out. We had lots of chances in both halves to score but either we let ourselves down with the final pass or their defence was up to it to stop our attacks. I thought they ground out their chances and made us pay in the end.

Barry Eaton :

I am really pleased having backed up from our win on Wednesday night to have got a good win today and we need to keep that going if we are to progress. The game was nip and tuck all the way through and both sides had good chances and luckily we came out on top in the end and it is good momentum for us to take through to next week when we are back here against Leigh and that too will be a massive game. I thought we let ourselves down a little in the first half and gave them too many chances but they didn't take them but we were a lot stronger in the second half.