YORK Knights were made to pay for their errors and ill-discipline as Halifax Panthers earned a 38-18 comeback victory in an enthralling encounter at The Shay.
The Knights could seldom have hoped for a better start after a Connor Bailey try and Ata Hingano penalty had handed them an 8-0 advantage inside as many minutes, but their ill-discipline soon began to rear its head in a near-complete capitulation.
Having been starved of both possession and field position, the Panthers hit back out of nowhere, with York’s defence all at sea as James Woodburn-Hall and Ben Crooks turned the game on its head in a devastating four-minute burst midway through the half.
Brad Ward then put the Knights back in front as the lead switched hands at an alarming rate, but it was the hosts who had opened up an eight-point gap by the half time hooter.
Action was less forthcoming during the second half, sparked into life by Charlie Graham’s acrobatic finish on 53 minutes, but though Jacob Gannon’s first Knights try temporarily threatened to make things interesting, late efforts from half-backs Louis Jouffret and Joe Keyes ensured the points remained with the Panthers.
MATCH RECAP: Halifax Panthers 38-18 York Knights
Mark Applegarth named the same 17 that comfortably beat Swinton Lions last week but switched the positions of Ronan Michael and Jordan Thompson – the latter reprising his familiar role at loose forward.
Halifax second-rower Connor Davies made his 100th career appearance, whilst there were also home debuts for Joe Hird and hometown talent Kai Morgan.
With every intention of applying pressure on the play-off places, the Knights started like a train, with Bailey forcing Graham into conceding the game’s first goal-line drop-out with less than a minute on the clock.
Despite Jouffret’s drop-out reaching halfway, the Panthers could not keep a lid on their discipline, and after they had twice been penalised for high tackles on Brenden Santi, Hingano needed no second invitation to slot over the opening two points from the 10-metre line.
And the Knights were further in front with just seven minutes played, as after Jimmy Keinhorst had forced a second goal-line drop-out, Josh Daley found Bailey from the play-the-ball, the second-rower crashing over unchallenged to the right of the posts.
Such was York’s early dominance, Halifax did not lay hands on the ball until the 11th minute, but saw out their first set without danger.
Nikau Williams then won the Knights a scrum just outside the 20-metre line, but though Keinhorst found Ward, he was ruled to have knocked-on as he looked to produce an acrobatic finish into the left corner.
That sparked the hosts into action, with Woodburn-Hall winning back possession inside his own half, riding a tackle before bypassing a handful of defenders and driving across the whitewash to bring them onto the board.
Jouffret converted but could not repeat the trick just three minutes later after Crooks touched down Woodburn-Hall’s short ball on the powerplay into the left corner to turn the game on its head.
Things looked to have gone from bad to worse for Applegarth’s side when Williams’ kick-off flew out on the full, but after Halifax had lost possession cheaply, the lead instead switched hands, with Ward beating James Saltonstall to Hingano’s perfectly-weighted chip to score into the left corner.
The Panthers though hit back almost instantaneously, as after Jack Teanby had been penalised for a tip-tackle and play stopped temporarily whilst Hingano received treatment for a cut to the head, quick hands saw Ben Kavanagh play in Graham to score into the corner.
Jouffret added another two points from the tee before Williams again saw his kick-off fly out on the full, but Ben Littlewood was brought down narrowly short as he looked to capitalise.
However, Halifax did produce a hammer blow with just nine seconds until the half-time hooter, Davies surging through a gaping hole in the Knights’ defence before playing in the supporting Jouffret to dive under the posts.
He was up quickly to convert his own try, handing the hosts a 22-14 lead at the end of a breathless opening 40 minutes.
York came out well after the break, but an early Oli Field knock-on typified an error-strewn second half.
Keinhorst could not keep hold of the ball as he was tackled before Hingano fumbled Daley’s bullet pass at first receiver, with Halifax making no mistake from the resultant scrum just outside the 20-metre line to extend their advantage.
Woodburn-Hall was able to find an offload as he was tackled, with Crooks playing in Graham, who produced an acrobatic finish into the left corner. Jouffret’s stunning touchline conversion handed the hosts a 28-14 lead.
James Cunningham was next to cough up an error for the Knights, but though Joe Brown was forced to kick Keyes’ grubber dead, Ward’s crunching tackle stopped Saltonstall short on the last.
It took until the hour for the Knights to formulate their best attack of the half with some inventive rugby, but after Keinhorst and Gannon had broken through the defensive line, the latter’s pass to Ward was ruled forwards.
But they did have a glimmer of hope two minutes later after Ed Barber’s knock-on, Sam Cook proving too strong for the Halifax defence before finding the supporting Gannon to score his first try in Knights colours to the left of the posts.
Hingano missed his only attempt from the tee, but that proved to be the last time York troubled the scoreboard, for Halifax pulled away during the final 10 minutes.
First, Jouffret intercepted a cut-out pass before racing 60 metres downfield, with the Knights failing to recover as Keyes raced through a gaping hole to score to the right of the posts, before Kavanagh’s flicked offload released the Frenchman to add the try his performance had deserved with five minutes left to play.
Keyes converted the former but not the latter as he took over duties from the tee in the last action of the game, but it mattered little to the overall result.
The Knights will hope to bounce back when they host basement side Dewsbury Rams on Sunday (3pm).
HALIFAX PANTHERS: Woodburn-Hall, Saltonstall, Barber, Crooks, Graham, Jouffret, Keyes, Tangata, Inman, Boyer, Kavanagh, Davies, Hird.
INTERCHANGES: Johnson, Larroyer, Littlewood, Morgan
TRIES: Woodburn-Hall (16), Crooks (19), Graham (29, 53), Jouffret (39, 75), Keyes (71)
GOALS: Jouffret 4/5, Keyes 1/2
YORK KNIGHTS: Williams, Ward, Keinhorst, Field, Brown, Hingano, Cook, Michael, Daley, Santi, Bailey, Gannon, Thompson.
INTERCHANGES: Teanby, Reynolds, Fitzsimmons, Cunningham
TRIES: Bailey (7), Ward (23), Gannon (61)
GOALS: Hingano 3/4
POINTS SEQUENCE: 0-2, 0-6, 0-8, 4-8, 6-8, 10-8, 10-12, 10-14, 14-14, 16-14, 20-14, 22-14, 26-14, 28-14, 28-18, 32-18, 34-18, 38-18
HALF TIME: 22-14
YORK’S STAR MAN: Jacob Gannon. An afternoon of little standout for the Knights, but Gannon was busy, and took his try well.
REFEREE: Liam Rush
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