Workington Town 20-24 Midlands Hurricanes
Betfred Championship Round Ten
By Tom Kiernan-Wilson
The Midlands Hurricanes extended their unbeaten run to a record five games – all away from home – after a tightly contested affair at the Fibrus Community Stadium.
Workington Head Coach Jonty Gorley said in his pre-match speech that his side needed to buck their trend of starting slowly, and they achieved that aim as the opening 15 minutes were fairly even, with Midlands perhaps looking more threatening as Ryan Johnson looked to have stripped the ball to race away before the effort was pulled back for a ball steal.
Johnno would make up for that mistake on the 16-minute mark, as he took the ball in and carved a gap in the Town line before rounding the full-back for a stunning opening try (0-4). Sully Medforth would nudge us further ahead with the conversion (0-6). Play would remain even for another 12 minutes or so, with Zeus Silk almost diving over for our second under the sticks but being deemed to have knocked on in the process.
Town would then enjoy their best spell of the first half. A fortunate deflection on the kick would be deemed played at and see the hosts earn another set, and from that second effort a nice looping pass found Aussie centre Braden Leigh in space to leap over in the right hand corner (4-6). Dom Wear could not convert.
Two minutes later, Town would take the lead as another deflected kick on the last would unfortunately land in the hands of an offside Ryan Johnson, and from that set Jake Dickinson would shake off Aidan McGowan to score in the left-hand corner (8-6). Once again, Wear could not convert.
It would be the Canes who would have the last word in the first half, as full-back Todd Horner would collect an offload and race through a gap and past the Town full-back to score just left of the posts as the half-time hooter sounded (8-10). Sully would kick the conversion before the sides went into the sheds (8-12).
Whilst the wind was very much against the Canes in the second half, it would initially prove useful as Workington could not deal with the kick-off and knocked on, and with that advantage the Canes would eventually go over again as Ryan Johnson pounced on a grubber that was poorly dealt with by the hosts (8-16). Sully would once again convert (8-18).
Momentum would immediately shift back to Town however, as a last tackle grubber into the left hand corner was not dealt with and led to the visitors conceding a restart on their own 10 metre line. A couple of tackles into that set would see Jack Ainley crash over from short range (12-18), with Wear nailing his first conversion of the afternoon (14-18).
The pendulum would then swing back to the Canes as some good momentum would see Zeus Silk charging forward before having the ball stolen in a 2-man tackle 10 metres in front of the posts. Sully immediately called for the kicking tee, and duly slotted the penalty despite a curling breeze (14-20).
Two minutes later the Canes would cement a two-score lead as some nice hands from right to left saw Ethan Newboult throw a nice pass out to Ryan Johnson, who in turn fed Matty Chrimes to race down the left edge for his 30th Canes try in just 42 appearances (14-24). Sully would miss his first conversion attempt of the afternoon as his effort was dragged wide in the breeze.
Town would wake up after this and largely control the remaining periods of the second half. As the game entered the final quarter Guy Graham would score a simple try as he drove hard and low to squirm over the line from close range (18-24), with Wear adding the extras (20-24). Ten minutes later the hosts looked like they might break even as Jake Carter came within inches of the Midlands line before being brought down.
The game would get scrappy in the final moments as the Canes fought to keep a determined Town side from stealing a win at the death. Zeus Silk would beat the Town full-back to a short grubber and would force a knock-on, and Luis Roberts would kill a dangerous attacking set by intercepting a short pass 30 metres from the Canes line. Canes fans could breath a couple of minutes later as the full-time hooter sounded.
With five consecutive away games down and another four to go, the Canes have won 9 points from a possible 10 and sit in second place behind league leaders London Broncos. Our attention now shifts from the league to the First Round of the 1895 Cup as we travel back to Colwyn Bay to face North Wales Crusaders.
Man of the Match: Ryan Johnson (sponsored by Hull Wyke Rugby League)
Tries: Johnson (2), Horner and Chrimes
Cons: Medforth (3/4)
Pens: Medforth (1/1)
