Pons impresses as resurgent Roughyeds hammer Halifax

New signing Mathieu Pons capped an impressive Oldham debut with a try as Sean Long's Roughyeds recorded an impressive 34-10 Championship win over Halifax.

The French winger scored one of six Oldham tries, with centre Ben Davies grabbing a double to end a run of three home defeats and bounce back up to 4th in the table.

"That is the team we were prior to a few injuries and a bit of adversity," head coach Sean Long told Roughyeds TV. "We are back on track now and heading in the right direction."

Long recalled Danny Craven to the halves with Riley Dean starting at centre, with Pons and the fit-again Mo Agoro on the wings and a debut off the bench for Super League recruit Zane Musgrove.

And it was a dream start for the home fans in front of a 2000-strong crowd as Davies finished smartly from a short-side play, Josh Drinkwater converting for an early 6-0 lead.

Pons then had his moment as Oldham scored from their second attack, a powerful finish from the young Frenchman after a Davies pass, Drinkwater converting superbly once more for a 12-0 lead.

The third score came from Ryan Lannon, who hit a superb line to latch on to Craven's pass and Oldham were flying at 18-0.

Halifax peppered Pons with kicks but had no joy, and would fall further adrift before the break as Louis Jouffret mishandled a bobbling kick on the last, substitute Gil Dudson kicked on and Ted Chapelhow was the man in the right place to touch down under the posts for a 24-0 half-time advantage.

Kyle Eastmond's side needed to score first after the break and did just that, winger Alfie Johnson sneaking in at the left corner, Jouffret unable to convert.

But back came the Roughyeds with two more tries, a second for Davies thanks to Phoenix Laulu-Togagag'e and a Matty Ashurst score, Drinkwater kicking one of the two for a 34-4 lead. Halifax did score a late converted try through James Woodburn-Hall but that had minimal impact on the scoreboard.

This was just what Oldham needed, a complete destruction of one of the Championship's top sides underpinned by a resolute defence and some incisive attacking lines.

"We have another big game at Hunslet next week and we got the mentality right," said Long.

Defence wins game and that was outstanding in the first half. We know we can attack so we got it the right way round this week.

Mathieu was challenged and they were trying to target him but he handled everything, he is a brave lad and likes the contact, Zane was outstanding too.

We focused heavily on these two games to get the wins here and next week and be in 4th position before a mini-break. We will then come back to hit the ground running to make the playoffs at the end of the year."