Jouffret hails team ethic in win at Bulls
Match-winner praises Panthers’ effort in dramatic derby win
LOUIS JOUFFRET has turned himself into a cult hero in Halifax after scoring the match winning-try in Good Friday’s 20-17 win over local rivals Bradford Bulls.
The 26-year-old arrived at The Shay at the start of the season and is making a lot of waves in his first year at the club.
Looking back at the Good Friday derby victory, the club’s third straight win in the Championship, Jouffret said: “I know it’s a big game, the lads have been talking about it all week. To be winning it with 12 men is unreal. All the lads cheering, and me as well, I’m pretty happy with that.”
Halifax were not only forced to overturn a nine-point deficit with 20 minutes to go, but they also had to compete with 12 men for 79 minutes after Jacob Fairbank’s early dismissal.
Jouffret put the team’s effort down to work ethic saying: “We’ve got a hard-working team so even down to 12 men, we never lost the faith. Just keep grinding. We knew it was going to be a long game. We end up winning in the last five minutes. Everybody happy.”
One area of contention has been Bradford’s narrow Odsal pitch. Jouffret is a player who thrives on exploiting space something that can be tricky to find at the home of the Bulls.
He said: “I’m more for running so the tight pitch is not really what I like - even worse when we go down to 12. It looks like there’s no space anywhere. But we just keep grinding.”
Halifax are now up to seventh
in the standings after recording their fourth win of the season. Despite enduring a tough start to the campaign, Halifax are now unbeaten in three.
The Frenchman added: “I think we never lost the confidence [despite] some result not going our way. But we know what we’re capable of and I’m pretty sure we’ll be fine at the end of the year.”
Panthers were down to 12 men in the opening 60 seconds of the contest when Jacob Fairbank
received the red card following a skirmish just moments after kick-off.
Bradford took the lead in the sixth minute with Dec Patton’s penalty only for Halifax to level with a penalty of their own from Joe Keyes.
Despite being a man down, Panthers’ Brandon Moore powered over the whitewash for the opening try and Keyes added the extras.
The Bulls responded ten minutes later as Sam Scott received
a short ball and span his way over. His effort was converted by Patton as Bradford levelled.
Jordan Lilley kicked a drop goal to put Bulls 9-8 up at the interval and they pulled clear in the second half, Steve Crossley crossing and Patton adding the conversion and a penalty moments later to put the hosts 17-8 ahead with 15 minutes left.
But Fax weren’t beaten and Zack McComb forced his way over for a try improved by Keyes and with just four minutes left, Jouffret touched down in the corner for the winner, goaled by Keyes from the touchline.