Rampant Roughyeds earn another victory

Ruthless Oldham put Hunslet to the sword in the second half to earn a big 60-16 win in the Betfred Championship.

Despite dominating much of the first half, Oldham went into the break with only a single-score lead, prompting a stern half-time message from head coach Alan Kilshaw. The response was emphatic, with Roughyeds blowing Hunslet away scoring seven tries.

The win means the winning streak now stretches to 15, with Roughyeds still unbeaten since the fourth round of the competition.

Kilshaw branded Hunslet as one of the league’s most dangerous attacking sides before the game, and that certainly rang true, with the home side throwing the ball around and testing Oldham’s defence.

For most parts, Roughyeds stood firm, but a momentary lapse saw Hunslet capitalise, scoring twice just before the break.

The game unfolded in a similar fashion to the previous meeting in the 1895 Cup, with Hunslet putting up a strong fight before the Roughyeds took control.

Oldham opened the scoring through Tom Nisbet, who scored in the corner after a well-timed pass from Ben Davies.

Then came another contender for try of the season. It started when Tom Nisbet set off upfield, collecting the ball from a high Hunslet kick. The ball worked its way through Morgan Smith and Jack Walker as Oldham marched further towards the try line. Walker, knowing he couldn’t do it all himself, pinged one to Luke Forber, who had the composure to collect the ball and ground it under the posts.

That effort could have had some serious competition moments later, had Forber managed to complete one of the most audacious solo efforts of the afternoon. After collecting a poorly executed kick for a 20-metre restart, Forber spotted Hunslet’s defence switched off and immediately took off. The flying winger raced clear and came agonisingly close, only for the desperate efforts of former Oldham duo Mo Agoro and Mackenzie Turner to force a knock-on and deny him what would have been another sensational score.

The winger wasn’t finished there. He produced another trademark diving finish in the corner, the kind of spectacular effort that the Roughyeds faithful – once again in full voice at the South Leeds Stadium – have quickly grown accustomed to since his arrival from North Wales.

But plucky Hunslet hit back, with their response coming through former Oldham man Agoro, who shrugged off Ben O’Keefe to dive over in the corner – moments after the Roughyeds had spurned a chance to extend their lead to four tries.

And, as is increasingly the case in the modern game, Hunslet – buoyed by the momentum – soon struck again. This time Kevin Larroyer finished off a well-placed kick from Dan Abram, another former Roughyed.

But Oldham were not for messing around in the second forty and soon got to work. Smith was handed a gift, as was Josh Drinkwater when Tom Forber broke through, before Nisbet scored his second in a ten-minute blitz.

It was that sort of day for Roughyeds, with even Matty Wildie getting in on the act. Usually the man doing the hard yards and unseen work from dummy-half, the veteran hooker rolled back the years to burst through to score his first try of the season under the posts.

Despite the commanding lead, the game never lost its intensity. Four further tries followed in the final ten minutes, with Bayley Liu, Morgan Smith and Hunslet’s Mackenzie Turner all crossing the line before Owen Farnworth capped off his 150th career appearance, and the win, in style with a powerful crash-over try.