A Scott Murrell master class inspired Halifax to blitz play
off hopefuls Whitehaven 52 – 12 at the Shay.
Murrell played a key role in assisting five of Fax’s nine
tries, including a brace for Luke Ambler, and the skipper went over for a four
pointer himself in the second half.
Steve Tyrer, who signed a new three-year contract in the
week, kicked eight goals and grabbed himself a first half brace.
The game looked more or less dead and buried at the break,
with the home side 34 – 0 up. However, two tries in the final ten minutes for
Whitehaven provided nothing more than mere consolation for the Cumbrian outfit.
Fax started the game brightly, and had a few chances inside
the opening ten minutes. But, knock ons at the crucial moments, resulted in the
hosts coming away with nothing.
They did find the breakthrough swiftly after, Ben Johnston’s
break and offload was finished off by Tommy Saxton down the left side.
Murrell drew inspiration from his half-back partner’s assist
to double Fax’s lead. His short pass put Ross Divorty through a hole, and Luke
Ambler was in support to go in under the posts.
After feeding a team-mate for a score, Divorty would get
himself on the score sheet. Murrell attacked the line, and had the ball reefed
out of his grasp to leave Divorty to pick up and dab the ball down.
Fax were playing some enterprising football in the opening 40,
but, they looked to the skies for their next try. The Skipper’s kick to the
corner was plucked out of the air by Steve Tyrer, to round off a perfect week
for the centre.
Murrell and Tyrer were involved again, except it was a
different name grabbing a try. Murrell’s
cut-out pass to Tyrer ended up in the hands of Saxton, who hacked the ball back
on the inside for Luke Adamson to swivel and score.
The Murrell-Tyrer combination was proving to be successful,
the stand-off trickled a kick in towards the in-goal area, and Tyrer swooped on
the ball to seal his brace. However, he failed to add the extras, the only time
in the afternoon he wouldn’t raise the touch judges’ flags.
The onslaught continued three minutes into the second half,
Danny Cowling capitalised on an error from Whitehaven half-back, Cain
Southernwood to dash 50 metres to score.
Southernwood nearly atoned for his previous mistake to try
and deny Fax nilling their opponents. He chipped and chased for himself, and
kicked on again for Shaun Ainscough. Only for the ball to roll into touch.
After being the architect in the first forty minutes,
Murrell would start and finish a move. His inside ball released Ambler and the
big prop forward supplied Murrell with a well-deserved try.
Like Divorty in the first half, Ambler went from provider,
to scorer. His powerful drive towards the Haven posts proved to be too strong
for the defence, as he spun away from the attempted tacklers to slam the ball
over the line, and to bring up the 50-mark for the first time this season for
Fax.
The influential Murrell departed proceedings in the final
ten minutes, and the home side’s discipline began to drop as they gave away a
few penalties to invite Whitehaven into Fax’s half.
Chris Taylor made best use of the gifted field position to take
a slight bit of gloss off the Halifax drubbing. Firstly, Taylor dabbed the ball
through for himself to re-gather and score. And Taylor would get Haven’s second
try a minute from full-time. Former Hull FC man, Brett Seymour, flicked the
ball to the short right side to Neil Thorman who fed Taylor to score the
Cumbrian’s second converted try.
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