 A win for Featherstone Rovers would see them leapfrog Bradford Bulls and Batley Bulldogs to take a place in the all important top four, but Halifax had a chance of joining Fev' and the Bulls on eighteen points if they could get the two points.
When these two sides met at the beginning of April it was a narrow one-point win for Halifax thanks to a last minute Tyrer penalty after a seventy-ninth minute Lilley drop goal
The stage was set for a mouthwatering finale to a Summer Bash which had promised, and delivered, a superb weekend of rugbyNo-one was prepared for what would unfold.
Only four minutes had passed when 'Fax opened their account, all too easily, when Adam Tangata took a short pass to dive over after Misi Taulapapa had given away a soft penaltySteve Tyrer added the extras.
On nine minutes Gareth Moore intercepted a wayward Featherstone pass from Thackeray, on the Halifax ten metre line, and went ninety metres to score a speedsters tryStephen Tyrer kicked the two points for an early 12-0 lead.
On twenty-eight minutes Gareth Moore took the opportunity to kick a drop goal from in front of the sticks to extend the lead by one to 13-0, possibly recollecting the one point difference the last time these two teams met.
Two minutes later and Matt Sarsfield took a Ben Johnston pass to get the third 'Fax try of the afternoon from five metres, and when Tyrer added the extras it was 19-0Featherstone just weren't in the game.
Five minutes from the interval and Halifax extended the lead to 25-0 when Ben Johnston found space off a Scott Murrell pass to take two tacklers over the line with himTyrer added the two for a near perfect first half.
As the hooter sounded Tyrer kicked a penalty after interference at the play-the-ball for a stunning 27-0 half-time leadFeatherstone would need some second half comeback.
A Scott Murrell 40-20 gained great field position for 'Fax on forty three, and on the next play Ben Heaton went over the line but Taulapapa kicked the ball from his grasp in the act of scoringThe video referee turned down the try, but sin-binned the Rovers centre for a professional foul.
The fifty-fifth minute saw Halifax open the second half scoring when James Saltonstall went down the wing off a Miles Greenwood miss-out pass to round behind the sticksTyrer failed for the first time but at 31-0 there was no way back for Fev' and some of their supporters started heading for the exits.
After a great Luke Ambler break down centre field, Steve Tyrer went through a broken defence off a Gareth Moore pass to add a try to his five goalsTyrer drilled his sixth goal between the sticks for 37-0.
This was a comprehensive Halifax win, and one of which the magnitude few people would have expectedThe blue and whites barely put a foot wrong with superb attack and tenacious defenceFeatherstone shunned the opportunity of a top four spot, but Halifax have got themselves right back in the running for the middle eights with a sensational win, the biggest of the weekend.
Rovers: Craven, Briscoe, Hardman, Taulapapa (SB), Foster, Briggs, Thackeray, Spears, Davies, Cording, Baldwinson, Griffin, EllisSubs: Roche, Ormondroyd, Ward, Adbull.
Halifax: Greenwood, Sharp, Tyrer (T, 6G), Heaton, Saltonstall (T), Moore G (T, DG), Murrell, Cahalane, Kaye, Tangata (T), Manning, Sarsfield (T), Fairbank Subs: Johnston (T), Ambler, Moore R, Boyle.
Referee: Chris Campbell.
Attendance:
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