A match report with a spin : Tue Feb 21, 2012 2:41 pm
Halifax RLFC V Rochdale HornetsWalking slowly at the front of the slave pens the dreaded Slave Master, Mike Riley; banged his battle Club against the slave pen grills a cruel thin lipped smile on his face.
“Come on you lot, get out of your comfort zones, we’ve little time to get the covers off before our warriors come out to warm up.”
The battleground had been protected against the weather. The covers glistened with the morning frost. It took about an hour to get the covers off to reveal that the battleground was playable.
“Right you walking rubbish, back into your sumptuous accommodation,” ordered the salve master.
The slaves reluctantly returned to the pens, except one slave; the grizzled slave known as Halifaxjohn
who stood his ground on the cleared battleground.“What’s your problem, Matey?”
“Sir I don’t want to go back into the pens.”
Riley walked up to the reluctant slave and smashed him in the side of the head with his battle Club.
“Get in the pen now!”
Sheepishly Halifaxjohn returned to his pen. Mike Riley the Slave Master swaggered from the field and returned to the battle office.
Fax’s coaching duo, the Archduke Karl (Rhino) Harrison and the Grand Prince Lee (The Schemer) Greenwood walked on the field of battle. Testing the surface as they walked; by digging their boot studs into the ground.
“It’s a bit soft,” growled Rhino as he ground his studs into the grass. “Hard or soft will make no difference to our young warriors,” retorted the Schemer with a ferocious grin on his battle scarred face.
There was a commotion coming from the terracing as the Fax Faithful made their presence known. They were ready to stand back to back to the death with their Heroes. As if the Gods had commanded them they all started the blood curdling chant, the very familiar chant that sent shivers of fear through the oppositions ranks, “O HaliHali.”
The games master Matthew Thomason entered the battlefield, checking his timepiece as he walked he indicated to the time keepers to get the battle underway.
Trumpets blared as the game kicked off.
It took a meagre seven minutes for the mighty Fax to cross the Rochdale Hornets whitewash. A neat offload by Dane (the legs) Manning to Ryan (the barrier) Fieldhouse to charge through to score; Steve (tomorrows man) Tyrer converted to make the score Fax 6 Hornets 0.
The hornets tackled hard belying their lack of match practise, unfortunately the Fax worriers didn’t care as they launched another attack.
Anthony (The Arm) Thackery was tackled just short of the line but his arms were long enough to reach out and score, tomorrows man converted to make the score Fax 12 Hornets 0. It took the Fax another ten minutes before they were on the score sheet again. Fantastic work by Sean (The Leader) Penkiwicz and Craig (Chunky) Ashall got the antipodean maniac Jim (Crazy Dog) Gannon under the post, tomorrows man converted to make the score Fax 18 Hornets 0.
The Fax worrier was next to score with some silky moves that took him over the line, tomorrows man hit the upright thus missing the conversion taking the score to fax 22 Hornets 0. Four minutes later Paul (winged feet) White charged down the left flank to outpace and out muscle the Hornets defence to score close to the corner flag, tomorrows man hit the upright again missing the conversion.
The trumpets signalled the end to the first half battle to the delight of the Fax faithful
Half Time Score
The Mighty Halifax RLFC 26 V Rochdale Hornets 0
The trumpets sounded to herald the start of the second half.
The Shay Stadium fell into complete silence as the hard working Hornets pushed forward close to the Fax posts with good work from Gary Middlehirst to allow Stephen McDermott to score under the post, to be converted by Paul Cook.
Crazy Dog was in great form sending Chunky in to score and to be converted by tomorrows man to make the score Fax 32 Hornets 6.
The last score came from tomorrows man himself charging down the left flank, he put the icing on the cake by kicking the conversion.
The Fax followers were howling with delight and chanting their war song “O’Hali Hali.” Even the ground slaves were joining in the chant. The grizzled HalifaxJohn
was jumping around his slave pen with gay abandon. The Full Time Score
Halifax 38 V Rochdale Hornets 6
Attendance 1,881
