Featherstone Rovers romp to dominant win over Halifax Panthers

A brace from Caleb Aekins and tries from Chris Hankinson, Gadwin Springer, Matty Wildie, Riley Dean, Connor Jones and Gareth Gale ensured another dominant win over a West Yorkshire rival after their 50-0 hammering at newly-promoted Keighley Cougars last Monday.

And, despite the best efforts of Lachlan Walmsley and James Woodburn-Hall who both grabbed a double, Fax have now lost their last nine games against Fev and have also failed to deliver a win at the Millennium Stadium on Post Office Road since a 28-8 victory in 2017.

A certain Simon Grix was in the lineup that day and the Panthers’ head coach made a few alterations to the side which beat Sheffield Eagles 26-18 in their curtain-raiser to the new season last weekend. Kevin Larroyer and Jacob Fairbank were promoted from the bench from that win while Ryan King, who signed from Whitehaven on a two-year deal, made his debut.

Sean Long, unsurprisingly, didn’t make any changes to the starting 13 who got Fev’s season off to that blistering start, although Jack Bussey did replace Luke Cooper as a substitute.

After some Fax pressure in the early stages, in which Hankinson, who was involved in the heart of the action throughout, dropped the ball before he was penalised for being offside.

However, it was merely the wake-up call Rovers needed as Johnathon Ford found Hankinson who barged his way through a gap in the Panthers’ defence to touch down for a sixth minute try.

And, after Fax returned the ball after Hankinson converted his own try, Rovers quickly affirmed control, thanks to former Fax prop Springer doing the damage after Gareth Gale had run half the length of the pitch.

Grix’s men responded with some sustained pressure of their own but Rovers were resolute in their defending, thwarting the visitors during an extra set of six ten metres out.

But when Joe Keyes decided to test Aekins with a kick which went searing into the grey, cloudy Featherstone sky, the former Leigh full-back caught it with aplomb and raced away to find Gale who, not for the first time in the first quarter of the game, gained some valuable ground.

Although Fev had regained their momentum, there was a sense of fortune about their third try of the afternoon as Wildie’s grubber kick ricocheted kindly back into the hooker’s grateful hands to make it 16-0. Hankinson made it a hat-trick of kicks.

It was one-way traffic. Fev were doing to Fax what Fax did to the Eagles in those rampant opening 30 minutes in the season’s curtain-raiser last Sunday at The Shay. For Fev, they were seemingly carrying on from where they left off against the Cougars.

Dazzling footwork from Aekins made it try number four and Hankinson’s conversion made it 24-0.

It was looking like an unassailable advantage. But, after McKenzie Yei was sin-binned for a dangerous tackle on Woodburn-Hall, the Panthers gained a glimmer of hope with Keyes and Woodburn-Hall combining to set Walmsley away to crash over on the far side, although Keyes couldn’t capitalise on the extra two points.

The half-time hooter possibly came at a good time for Rovers, but it didn’t take them too long to add to their lead after the restart with Hankinson taking two points for a penalty before Aekins grabbed his second try of the afternoon after a good offload from Ford.

Riley Dean, on a season-long loan from Warrington Wolves, showed his Super League pedigree with a double at Cougar Park and he got his third try of the campaign after 54 minutes here after going over from close range to make it 36-4, with Hankinson missing the conversion attempt for the first time.

Walmsley closed the gap after reacting quickest to a Keyes kick, flying through the air to pick up the loose, bouncing ball for his brace.

Tries were then traded as the game opened up in the latter stages as Jones went over for he home side after Woodburn-Hall mishandled a Ford lofted kick. Woodburn-Hall, however, went over himself five minutes later, although Gale quickly extended the lead.

Woodburn-Hall had the final say after a fine solo run but it was too little, too late for Fax as Fev continued their brilliant start to the 2023 season.

Featherstone: Aekins, Briscoe, Hankinson, Hardcastle, Gale, Ford, Dean, Lockwood, Wildie, Springer, Day, Taylor, Cozza

Substitutes: Jones, Kopczak, Yei, Bussey

Tries: Hankinson, Springer, Wildie, Aekins (2), Dean, Jones, Gale

Conversions: Hankinson (6)

Penalties: Hankinson

Halifax: Woodburn-Hall, Walmsley, Maizen, McComb, Saltonstall, Jouffret, Keyes, Tangata, Kavanagh, Larroyer, Fairbank, Moore, King

Substitutes: Wood, Calcott, Murray, Gee

Tries: Walmsley (2), Woodburn-Hall (2)

Conversions: Keyes (3)

Match official: Chris Kendall