‘No excuses’ says Kyle Eastmond as Halifax Panthers’ unbeaten start in Championship ended by arch rivals Bradford Bulls

Fax looked on course to make it seven league victories from their opening seven games after a Louis Jouffret penalty, try and conversion gave them an 8-0 lead.

But converted tries from James Meadows and Luke Hooley either side of half-time enabled the Bulls to claim the local bragging rights, as the Panthers lost in the Championship for the first time in 2025.

“There’s no excuses,” Eastmond told the Halifax Courier after the 12-8 defeat. “We were deservedly beaten. I think we had opportunities to execute and win the game but we didn’t take them so, ultimately, we didn’t deserve to win.

“I can’t fault the lads’ effort. It was a fantastic effort - I wouldn’t expect anything less anyway - but we have got to get a little bit better around our mentality and our mindset leading into games and our execution on the back of that.”

The Panthers were dominant for the majority of the first half, despite playing with 12 men for ten minutes after Jacob Fairbank was sent to the sin bin.

However, they only had Jouffret’s contributions to show for their efforts. And the Bulls, ultimately, proved too strong by the end.

Eastmond observed: “When you have got that kind of start it is very helpful. The key to that is keeping it, being consistent with it and finding a way to gain momentum and keep it. We couldn’t do that today.

“Like I said, it’s not from a lack of effort or a lack of understanding. Ultimately, in big games you get found out and I think we got found out with a few areas of not building pressure.

“That’s fine, we’ve got something to work on.”

Asked if James Meadows’ try, which came against the run of play just before the half-time hooter, was a key moment in the game, Eastmond responded:

“I think so. I think it is a key moment because that is not us at all. Fair play to the lad who scored. He took his opportunity and you have got to respect that.

“But it was soft. We will learn from it. We have got to, staff, players. We will learn and get better.”

Eastmond was also quick to shut down any possible complaints of a forward pass leading up to Hooley’s winning try in the second half.

He said: “I heard it might have been whatever but at the end of the day they got an opportunity and they took it.”

The defeat ended Fax’s terrific 100 per cent record in the Championship, although they stay on top of the table by two points.

“It doesn’t feel like anything,” Eastmond reflected. “I have played rugby and competed at rugby since I can remember from seven years old. I have lost games in the past.

“The worst thing is when you haven’t put the effort in and the lads did put effort in today.”