Swinton Lions carried out a fantastic team performance on Sunday 10 April to gain their first win over Halifax since 1981.
The 38-35 victory didn’t come easy, with early errors putting the Lions three tries down and possibly out before 15 minutes had elapsed.
Miles Greenwood, Sam Smeaton and Jake Eccleston all crossed for Fax but flying winger Liam Marshall rallied with his first, a swallow dive into the corner, and a second on 19 minutes to put Swinton back in the hunt.
Fax pushed further ahead with two tries in four minutes: first Brandon Moore scored by the posts then Greenwood added his second, with Tyrer converting, to give the home side a 10-point lead.
Again the Lions fought back and five minutes from the break Vila Halafihi was grounded just short but Josh Barlow it on from acting half-back and dived over for the try.
Things got better for the Lions just after the restart when Marshall completed his hat trick after a fantastic back of hand pass by Atkin.
Veteran Stuart Littler attacks the Fax line – Pete Green
On 48 minutes Halifax were attacking the Lions line but when Atkin intercepted a Gareth Moore pass meant for Sharp he raced 80 metres to score. Now there were just four points between the teams.
The Lions managed to defend four sets on their own line but then Halifax went back to 10 points clear: despite a try-saving tackle from Butt on Eccleston, Ben Kaye added another on 63 minutes.
The Lions were not lying down and were throwing everything at the Halifax defence.
Hallett finished off an Atkin pass on the left to level the scores, and on 73 minutes Ben White kicked for the right corner, Greenwood went to kick it dead but took an air shot and Shaun Robinson dived on it to score in the corner. Game on again.
Gareth Moore put his side back in the lead with five minutes left when he added a drop goal.
With 90 seconds left they forced the Halifax defence into a handling error near their own line and from the resulting scrum moved the ball swiftly along the line and Marshall again swallow-dived into the corner to finish the move and win the day.
A famous victory for the Lions and a great day out for the travelling fans.
Swinton Lions: 20.Mike Butt, 2.Shaun Robinson, 3.Stuart Littler, 4.Macauley Hallett, NN.Liam Marshall, 6.Ben White, 1.Chris Atkin, 8.Mike Morrison, 9.Anthony Nicholson, 10.Jordan Hand, 11.Connor Dwyer, 23.Rhodri Lloyd, 12.Andy Thornley. Subs: 27.Vila Halafihi, 13.Rob Lever, 19.Josh Barlow, 17.Stephen Nash.
Referee: Chris Campbell
Attendence: 1,551
Main image: Pete Green/Swinton Lions
