Author: halifaxwheelchairrugbyleague

With Wigan forfeiting their Super League fixture against Halifax on Sunday the 25th August, it left centre stage for the reserves squad who played against Salford from the Championship.

Lee Noble opened up the scoring with the first of his two tries on the day, whilst captain Finlay O’Neil converted the first of his 6 goals.

Further try scorers in the first half were Jack Stockton (2) Julio Hernendes (1) and Finlay O’Neill. Salford answered with 22 points of their own to make
the half time score 34 – 22 in Halifax’s favour.

Coach Tom Martin then rang the changes in the second half, using the 10 man squad. Hannah Mickleborough , Kyle Loyd, Kaine Greenwood, Ryan Sullivan and Tom Robinson all came on and played to good effect.

O’Neill, Stockton and Hernendes scored further tries, all converted , with Tom Robinson kicking his very first conversion, to leave the Panthers with a comfortable 58-34 margin at the final whistle. But credit to Salford, who made life difficult in a game played in the true spirit of the sport.

Panthers players met Panthers players at the festival in memory of Zak Dewhirst at King Cross Park at the weekend. Junior King Cross Park players joined in too. A great way to remember a player we all miss a lot.

Halifax Reserves played Bradford Bulls from the Championship League on 17 August, with a much changed team due to holidays and illness and they included two debutants to the game.

They made a slow start and were 0-14 down inside the first quarter of the game as they saw little of the ball. However when they got a good share of the ball, tries from Finlay O’Neill (2 ), converting both, and Tom Green, scoring a try on his return, gave Halifax a 16-14 half time lead.

The second half went better for the Panthers and saw tries from Jordan Holt (2) Green (2 more ) plus one from Julio Hernendes, with O’Neill converting three scores, and a penalty. That gave Halifax a 46-30 win.

Meanwhile, Halifax Super League team squeezed home against a very resilient London Roosters side 46-40.

In a feisty but engaging encounter, the Panthers wracked up three tries from Jeremy Bouson, two from Keiron Johnson and singles from Wayne Boardman, Joseph Calcott and Rob Hawkins. There were six conversions by Hawkins plus a penalty. So the Panthers brought home two league points and consolidated their second place in the league.

They take on Wigan at home Sunday 25th with kick off at 2-30pm at Sedbergh Leisure Centre, Bradford.

Halifax Reserves had a small squad of 9 players as opposed to the Leeds squad of 15 players. However Halifax coach Tom Martin managed his squad excellently and after a tight 1^st half with no scores after 20 mins, Halifax went in at half time 4-12 up due to 3 tries 2 from Jack Stockton, 1 from Julio Hernendes and Finlay O’Niell with a conversion.

The 2^nd half saw Halifax run away with the game with 20 points coming from Jack Stockton with 3 tries and 2 goals and a try from Dylan Greenwood.  Leeds replied with 1 try  leaving the score 8 – 32 to Halifax.

The Super League sides gave everyone an exciting game, with the lead going from one team to the other. Halifax opened the scoring with a Jeremy Bouson try converted by Wayne Boardman. The game swung to-and-fro, with Halifax taking a 22-30 lead into Half time, with further tries from Bouson, Nathanial Wright, Boardman and Robert Hawkins, Boardman converting them all.

Leeds kept chipping away at the lead until they were eventually leading 50 – 48 with ‘Fax scorers being two tries from Hawkins and one from Wright, again Boardman converting all…..

Minutes were ticking away and with 5 minutes to go Halifax went in front 50-54 with a Hawkins try and Boardman conversion (he converted all 9 attempts during the match)..

With 1 minute to go, ‘Fax coughed up the ball, Leeds scored a try in the corner, and with the last action of the game Nathan Collins converted with a touch line conversion which hit the top of the post and was judged to have gone in!!

Leeds took the two league point to remain top with Halifax in 2^nd place, with three rounds of games to go.

Halifax recorded a famous victory over the current super league champions 30-68 on Saturday 20 July at Wigan.

Harry Brown on his homecoming debut, scored 6 tries.

The scorers were:

Tries: Harry Brown 6, Bourson 2, Hawkins 2, Calcott, Boardman, Martin.

Goals: Boardman 7, Hawkins

The Panthers retain second place in the league behind Leeds.

Halifax Panthers wheelchair rugby league club were working in the local community at the Great Get Together in Crow Wood Park, at the weekend, with their junior player/coach Finlay O’Neill helping to keep things running.

Anyone wishing to try the sport can turn up on a Wednesdays at Calderdale College, 7pm.

Report: Malcolm Kielty | Images Michael O’Neill

On Sunday 30^th June 2024, the Halifax Panthers Super League team and Reserves travelled to London Roosters.

The reserves won a round robin mini tournament by beating Elmbridge Eagles 34-0, St Marys 18-0 and finally Medway Dragons 12-0.

The Super League team won a very tight encounter 72-52, pulling away in the last 10 minutes, from leading 58-52 on the 70 mins mark.

They now sit second in the table behind Leeds.

Halifax:
12 Tries: Jeremy 2, Robert 3, Wayne 2, Nathan 1, Jordan 1,Joseph 3.
12 Goals: Robert 12.

Roosters:
9 Tries: Mason 2, Joe 4, Scott 1, Lewis 2
8 Goals: Joe 8

Halifax Wheelchair RLFC would like to thank The Rotary Club of Halifax for their donation of £250 towards the purchase of a sports-chair for one of our young players who is in need of his own equipment, but hasn’t the finances to purchase one. The Club are looking for support for the junior player and are really thankful for Simon Bottomley the treasurer of The Rotary Club of Halifax for facilitating this donation.

Article in this week’s Rugby League Express: