MATCH REPORT - Midlands Hurricanes 16 - 44 Oldham RLFC
A heroic effort in defeat for the Canes
After a scintillating and record-smashing 72-6 win over Cornwall in the Duchy last Sunday, the Canes welcomed Oldham to The Alex. As acknowledged by Head Coach Mark Dunning and captain Matty Welham in our "Eye of the Storm" programme, the visitors came to the Second City unbeaten, full of confidence and with a squad brimming with Super League and Championship experience. The Canes therefore knew they faced a challenge if they wanted to upset the Roughyeds goal of securing automatic promotion, but Saturday's showing demonstrated just how much of a competitive force we can be in League 1.
The first five minutes were even, with both sides trading sets and the Canes keeping Oldham's big forward pack at bay despite some big carries. The visitors did eventually score first, with returning winger Mo Agoro bursting down the right-hand side of the field for the first try of the game (0-4). Jamie Ellis was unable to add the extras from out wide. Unfazed by going behind, the Hurricanes immediately struck back as Oldham's Phoenix Laulu-Togaga'e ("PLT") spilled the kick-restart and the resulting set saw Callum McLelland sell a beautiful dummy to break Oldham’s line and stretch over to score left of the posts (4-4). Unlike his counterpart, Jake Sweeting had no problems converting the try (6-4).
The next ten minutes were also evenly contested, with Oldham (and their travelling support) looking visibly frustrated by their inability to complete sets in the face of a resilient Hurricanes defence. Despite some strong defending Oldham's efforts paid off, with PLT taking advantage of a gap in the Canes defence to score down the left edge (6-8). Jamie Ellis added the extras (6-10). Shortly after this try, the Hurricanes afternoon became that much harder as captain Matty Welham, celebrating his 100th career appearance (57 of which have been for the Canes), slipped whilst attempting to tackle Danny Craven's on the last and his raised leg unfortunately connected with Craven. The touch judge deemed this to be dangerous and intentional, leaving the referee little choice but to send Matty off. The Canes therefore played the remainder of the game, just under 55 minutes, with 12 men.
Some people may have expected the floodgates to have opened at this stage, with Oldham initially taking advantage of the extra man to put Mo Agoro in for his second of the afternoon (6-14) but Ellis being unable to stretch the lead to 10 points from the tee. However, it was Oldham who looked like a team under pressure as they again failed to deal with the initial kick restart and repeatedly failed to capitalise on the man advantage due to some dogged defending from the home side. By contrast, a well-drilled Hurricanes team carried on as if nothing had happened. That effort was duly rewarded as Derbyshire born Lewis Peachey – now a regular feature of the Canes squad on dual-registration from Sheffield Eagles – collected a short pass to crash through the Roughyeds defence to score our second (10-14). Sweeting once again added the extras as the half-time hooter sounded, meaning we went into the changing rooms just two points behind (12-14).
As the teams left the field, a combination of applause from the home crowd and unmistakable jeering from some of the away fans towards their own team showed that this afternoon was not going as the Oldham faithful had expected.
Half-time: Midlands Hurricanes 12 – 14 Oldham RLFC
No doubt sent back out with the aim of taking control of the game, Oldham's frustrations continued as the home side continued to hold firm and cause the visitors all sorts of problems in return. To the jubilation of the home support it was the Canes who scored first on 48 minutes as Ross Oakes collected a pass, sold to go right but instead passed out left to Ryan Johnson, who leapt into the air despite the best efforts of the Oldham defence to score an impressive try in the left corner (16-14). Sweeting was unfortunately unable to add the extras, with his conversion agonisingly drifting wide of the sticks. Five minutes later, PLT put Oldham back ahead as the visitors shifted the ball out to the right and the young fullback found a gap to dart through (16-18). Jamie Ellis' conversion hit the post but to the delight of the away fans bounced through the uprights (16-20).
The second controversial call of the match followed some sustained pressure from the Canes in the third quarter. A loose pass out wide missed Ross Oakes but landed kindly for Ryan Johnson, who sped down the left edge and dived over the try-line to the joy of the home support. Despite looking like he'd got the ball down before being tackled into touch, the touch judge positioned behind the play deemed otherwise and the referee ruled out Johnson's second. Aware of the threat we were showing we posed, Oldham opted to take no chances when awarded a penalty in front of the sticks from 10m out, with Ellis extending the Roughyeds lead to 6 (16-22). With just fifteen minutes to go, this was anybody's game.
A few minutes later, Oldham extended their lead as a flat pass to George Hirst allowed him to bundle through the Hurricanes line and crash over to score (16-26). Ellis had no issue adding the extras from near the posts (16-28). The home side refused to give up and bravely kept the visitors at bay for a further five minutes, however playing so long with 12 men was bound to take its toll and the visitors sensed there was an opportunity to break away. With seven minutes left, Danny Craven showed no signs of injury from his collision with Matty Welham as he dummied his way over to seal the victory for Oldham (16-32). Ellis was unable to convert.
With five minutes to go and some tired bodies in the home defence, Oldham got the first real opportunity to show the flair that has earned them sizeable victories over their previous league opponents to date – Cian Tyrer scored his 11th try in 3 matches as he went over in the left-hand corner (16-36) and converted his own try (16-38), whilst Super-League veteran Craig Kopczak managed to break his arms free over the line to put the ball down a few minutes later (16-42) and allow Tyrer an easy conversion on the hooter (16-44).
Despite a scoreline that even Oldham Head Coach Sean Long admitted did not reflect the game, the face this result represents Oldham's smallest winning margin of the season to date - and no League 1 side having scored as many points against the Roughyeds so far – shows that Saturday afternoon's performance was nothing short of heroic from a brave and battling Hurricanes side that refused to give up for 80 minutes. We now turn our attention to Derwent Park in Workington on Sunday 5 May, where Mark Dunning will no doubt he hunting for our third league victory of the season.
Attendance:
367
Man of the Match:
Jon-Luke Kirby (sponsored by Signature Resin Floors (Halifax)
Scoring sequence:
0-4, 4-4, 6-4, 6-8, 6-10, 6-14, 10-14, 12-14, 16-14, 16-18, 16-20, 16-22, 16-26, 16-28, 16-32, 16-36, 16-38, 16-42 and 16-44.