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OLDHAM 40 HUNSLET HAWKS 12

by ROGER HALSTEAD
 
THREE wins in eight days . . . points for 138, points against 54 . . . 25 tries scored, 12 conceded . . . not a bad few days work by the Roughyeds, then, Aided by in the build-up to Easter followed by the double-header over the holiday weekend to get the Co-operative NL2 campaign up and running.
 
At Swinton for the entire match and at Rochdale for 50 minutes or so, Steve Deakin's boys looked in a class of their own at this level of the sport. Their own high standards were lowered in the last half hour at Spotland. And what of this one? While never reaching their best, or coming anywhere near emulating how well they played against the Lions and in the first half against the Hornets, the home side did enough to send fans home in a happy frame of mind and, hopefully, wanting to return for more.
 
Aided by their touchjudges, referees are having no truck these days with teams who creep offside at the play-the-ball when defending close to their own line. Rochdale were caught out three times in such circumstances early in the game at Spotland on Friday while, in this one, Roughyeds had their knuckles slapped for similar offences in the 6th, 9th and 13th minutes by referee Ronnie Laughton, alerted to these misdemeanours by a touchjudge.
 
By conceding these penalties so early, and knocking-on in their third set, Roughyeds struggled for possession and field position in the first 20 minutes, when Hawks proved themselves to be a neat and tidy side. They completed each of their eight sets in the first 20 minutes when they were camped out in Oldham's half.
 
It needed Paul O'Connor, back at full-back, to prevent a Hunslet try when he pulled off a covering, last-ditch tackle on Hawks winger Matt Bramald. And another chance for the Yorkshiremen went astray when centre Dean Townend failed to touch down a Stuart Young kick into Oldham's in-goal area.
 
Having said, the visitors perhaps showed a lack of ambition when Bramald elected to go for goal from each of the aforementioned three penalties. He landed all three for a 6-0 Hunslet lead.
 
Oldham didn't get on the scoresheet for 20 minutes or more, but once they did it was only a matter of time before they pushed on to build a decent lead.
 
Jason Boults scored his third try in four games after good work by James Coyle and Adam Robinson --- not bad for a prop who went through the whole of last season without scoring -- and then a couple of penalties went Oldham's way and Phil Joseph capitalised on the second by taking a quick tap close to the line and forcing his way over.
 
O'Connor linked well from full-back, outside the halves, to send in Craig Littler at the corner before Coyle himself nipped over after dancing his way through a gap in front of the posts.
 
Gareth Langley, goalkicking in Mick Nanyn's absence, converted all four tries and Oldham had put the game to bed in 18 good minutes which yielded 24 points and gave the home side a 24-6 interval lead.
 
Hawks were to score their only try early in the second half when Young's high kick fell somewhere between the shoulders of O'Connor and Gareth Langley, both of whom went for the ball as a result of a breakdown in communications. The ball broke loose to Townend, who scored by the posts for Bramald to kick the goal and complete the visitors' scoring.
 
They didn't threaten too often after that, although substitute Ben Walkin was often dangerous wide out on Hunslet's right side of the field. Said Tamghart halted him close to the line on one occasion, but the speed of the tackle was such that Walkin was propelled 'up and over' and Tamghart was placed on report. Further video scrutiny may well conclude that this was an accidental offence caused by the momentum of both players at point of impact.
 
It was left to Oldham to score the game's remaining points with the outstanding Robinson thumping the air with delight as he crossed the line under Hunslet's posts on a beautiful dummy-half pass from Simeon Hoyle. Gareth Langley got in at the corner after chasing his own kick following good work by Coyle and Tommy Grundy and then Coyle's timed-to-perfection little pass found a gap for Neil Roden, who scored by the posts.
 
Former soccer player Langley converted six of the seven tries, one of his low-trajectory touchline efforts swerving uncannily at the last moment to creep just inside the far post and just above the crossbar. There might come a day when "Leather it like Langley" challenges "Bend it like Beckham" as catch-phrase of the year.
 
In a side showing several significant changes --- Nanyn, Richard Mervill and Danny Halliwell were left out -- Marcus St Hilaire looked more than comfortable in the centre, while Boults, Robert Roberts, Tamghart and Robinson showed up well in the forwards. Simeon Hoyle also did well when coming off the bench, but on this occasion the stand-out player without any shadow of doubt was Robinson.
 
Any side would have found it difficult on this day to match the poise, professionalism and panache of pre-match operatic tenor Laurence Robinson, but the Roughyeds got their home NL2 campaign off to a winning start by scoring seven tries to one without ever hitting their best.
 
Scorers: Oldham -- goals, Langley (6); tries: Boults, Joseph, Littler, Coyle, Robinson, Langley, Roden; Hunslet: goals, Brmaald (4); try, Townend.
 
Oldham: O'Connor; Langley, Littler, St Hilaire, Wilkinson; Roden, Coyle; Stevens, Joseph, Boults, Goulden, Roberts, Baines. Subs (all used): Hoyle, Robinson, Grundy, Tamghart.
 
Hunslet: Larvin; Bramald, Townend, A Robinson, Dunbar; Young, Till; Plume, Moxon, Hirst, Lester, Cook, Gunney. Subs (all used): Walkin, P Robinson, Watling, Pennington.
 
Referee: R Laughton (Barnsley); Att: 1,168.