Louis Jouffret inspires Halifax Panthers to victory over Barrow Raiders to continue winning start to Championship season

Both the Panthers and the Raiders came into this fixture after winning on the opening day.

With confidence oozing, the Panthers started the brighter with an early try. Jouffret’s powerful run down the right-hand side unlocked the Barrow defensive line, with the full back touching down underneath the posts for an easy conversion.

On a wet and windy afternoon at The Shay, Fax started the brighter but the Raiders jumped into gear following the early score with a try of their own.

Smart passing moves stretched the pitch, with a good offload giving Luke Cresswell the chance to put a solid ball out for Andrew Bulman to dive over in the corner.

With a difficult angle on the far right of the pitch and weather conditions not going in the favour of Bradley Walker, the kick came up short.

The tide had seemed to change until midway through the half two quick tries saw Fax stretch into an 18-4 lead over the Cumbrians.

Both tries were constructed by excellent passing play from the hosts, with James Saltonstall and James Woodburn-Hall scoring.

With half time approaching, Barrow brought the deficit down to eight with a try from Ryan King following a strong run, and the kick converted by Walker.

In an extremely tight second half, the Panthers had all the possession without Barrow getting out of their own half and giving away several penalties.

The pressure was rewarded as Tom Inman dived over the line just to the left of the posts to pretty much secure the victory for Fax. Jouffret converted his fourth goal of the game, meaning Halifax had a 24-10 lead with 15 minutes left to play.

However, with five minutes until the hooter a sin binning for the Panthers meant they would finish the game with 12 men, as Ronan Dixon was shown a yellow card.

Barrow made a late fightback against the 12 men of Halifax, scoring a late try through Ryan Johnston, but Walker was unable to convert the kick.

Fax held on to take the two points with a comfortable 24-14 win to continue their 100 per cent start to the league season.

Halifax Panthers

Tries:

Jouffret, Saltonstall, Woodburn-Hall, Inman

Goals:

Jouffret x4

Barrow Raiders

Tries:

Bulman, King, Johnston

Goals:

Walker

Man of the Match:

Tom Inman