MATCH REPORT: ELIMINATION SEMI-FINAL - HUNSLET RLFC 18 - 14 MIDLANDS HURRICANES

A healthy travelling support cheered on the Canes in South Leeds (Credit: Rob Hare Photography)

Canes playoff dreams dashed by controversial decisions

Buoyed by winning 24-22 against Workington Town at The Alexander Stadium the week before, the Canes (and a dedicated supporting contingent) travelled to South Leeds to take on Hunslet for the fourth time this season. Hunslet had emerged narrow victors on the three previous outings (26-30, 25-18 and 22-28) but Sunday was playoff rugby - the victor would advance to play the loser of Keighley v Rochdale in the Preliminary Final. The loser would go home and their season would come to an end.

The first 10 minutes of the game were fairly even, however the Canes made strong metres in attack and forced numerous Hunslet attackers back several metres in defence. After a little over ten metres the Canes opened the scoring as loose forward Brad Clavering took a short pass from five metres out, bounded into the Hunslet defence and span over to score under the sticks (0-4). With an easy chance to add two points, Jake Sweeting slotted the ball through the posts from short range (0-6).

Brad Clavering twists and turns to open the scoring (Credit: Rob Hare Photography).

Only a minute later the hosts almost levelled the scores as they exploited a gap down the right edge before Todd Horner dragged the attacking player to the ground. Beharrell seemingly spotted another gap as the Canes defence regathered, however a speculative kick gratefully rolled dead and the Canes were able to take back control with a seven-tackle restart. A little over five minutes later, Jason Bass was knocked unconscious following a knee to his head in the tackle and was taken off for a Head Injury Assessment (which he later failed) and the Canes were awarded a penalty.

The first controversy of the game was to shortly follow as Welsh prop Sam Bowring bounded over from short range and appeared to dot the ball down as a number of Canes players jumped for joy thinking we had doubled our lead. Instead, the referee determined Sam had been held up. This turned out to be a 12-point decision as only 60 seconds later a stray pass allowed Jude Ferreira to intercept and race 80 metres down the left edge to score in the corner despite Jake Sweeting’s best efforts (4-6). Matty Beharrell, faced with a difficult kick from out wide, nailed a sublime conversion to level the scores (6-6).

After some sustained pressure from George Flanagan Jr and Matty Beharrell leading to us conceding multiple goal-line drop outs, Flanagan Jr elected to kick early in the set which led to a footrace between Tom Delaney and Todd Horner. Despite the ball looking like it had rolled onto the dead-ball line and there being questions marks over whether Delaney grounded the ball at all, inferred from a lack of celebrating amongst the home side, the referee blew for a try and a delayed ripple of applause emanated from the stand (10-6). Matty Beharrell was unable to convert the effort from out wide.

With a little under 60 seconds to go, a Hunslet attack saw the Parksiders earn a penalty as the Canes were caught offside 15 metres from our line. Knowing time was winding down in the first half, Matty Beharrell called for the kicking tee and had no issues kicking the penalty from left of the sticks (12-6). The half-time hooter sounded immediately after and the hosts had a six-point lead going into the changing rooms.

Half-time: Hunslet RLFC 12 - 6 Midlands Hurricanes

As the second half got underway, the Canes started strongest and after trading sets a nice grubber by Dave Hewitt forced the hosts to concede a goal-line drop out. A few minutes later another interesting decision saw an initial penalty against Hunslet for a high shot on Hewitt was changed into a scrum in the Canes favour 10 metres out from the Parksiders line.

Off the back of this penalty we drew level as a grubber from Danny Barcoe from dummy-half saw the ball squeak past the entire Hunslet defence and slowly bobble towards the dead-ball line. Wrongly assuming the ball would roll dead, the Hunslet defence left the ball alone and allowed Barcoe to pounce on his own kick to the shock of the home crowd (12-10). Once again, Jake Sweeting had no issues scoring from in front of the posts (12-12). After a melee ensued immediately following Barcoe’s try, the referee consulted with his touch judges before sin-binning George Flanagan Jr.

The lads celebrate Danny Barcoe’s try (Credit: Rob Hare Photography).

It only took two minutes for the Canes to take advantage of the extra man as a late hit 20 metres from the home side’s line presented Jake Sweeting with another easy opportunity to add two points, which he duly did (12-14). The Canes were unable to add any more points against the depleted hosts, however some pressure on Matty Beharrell forced the veteran half to make a couple of mistakes when kicking on the last.

As we entered the final 20 minutes, Sam Bowring came off worst following a clash of heads and was taken off for a head injury assessment that the game’s doctor deemed not to be necessary. As a result, Sam returned to the field shortly thereafter and was able to finish the match, however this did mean the Canes were unable to utilise Ellis Hobson as 18th man. The Canes were not peturbed by this disruption and fought valiantly to deny the home side from scoring following a series of targeted kicks by Beharrell.

With fewer than two minutes to go, the most controversial decision of the afternoon took place as an off-load to Jack Render looked suspiciously forward before Ryan Johnson appeared to tackle Render, who also appeared to knock the ball on when attempting to score down the left edge, into touch. Despite the nearest touch judge advising the referee of this, the man with the whistle decided otherwise and blew for a try to the delight of the Parksiders and to the disbelief of the Canes faithful sat in the stands.

Knowing they only had moments to save their season, the Canes forced a Hunslet knock-on on the half-way line but some poor handling in the moment gifted the hosts possession 20 metres from their own line. The Canes got another couple of opportunities to finish the game, however the pressure began to tell and speculative bombs from Jake Sweeting and Todd Horner were easily dealt with by Hunslet before the agonising sound of the full-time hooter rang out around the stadium.

Hunslet celebrate the winning try awarded by the referee (Credit: Rob Hare Photography).

With that, the Midlands Hurricanes 2024 season came to an abrupt end on the back of an extremely frustrating afternoon at the South Leeds Stadium. Whilst the lads will no doubt be disappointed by the way we were knocked out of the play-offs, they can take real pride in the incredible journey the club have gone through. The Midlands Hurricanes have made history and, despite their best efforts, no naysayer will be able to take that away from us.

Man of the Match:
Bradley Clavering (Sponsored by East Yorkshire Bathrooms)

Scoring sequence:
0-4, 0-6, 4-6, 6-6, 10-6, 12-6, 12-10, 12-12, 12-14, 16-14 and 18-14.