Halifax hold on as Broncos threaten to bounce back
Halifax Panthers resisted a brave London Broncos fightback to return to winning ways following their first defeat of the 2023 Championship season at Featherstone Rovers last weekend.
A James Saltonstall double, along with tries from Louis Jouffret, Lachlan Walmsley and debutant Eribe Doro gave Fax a firm grip on proceedings but scores from Zach Eckersley, Dean Parata and Bill Leyland got the Broncos to within six points.
And, after Dan Murray was sin-binned as the game drew to nervy close, Joe Keyes kept his composure to seal the win with a late penalty.
Daniel Smith, benefitting from Fax’s dual registration partnership with Castleford Tigers, started on the bench, along with Doro, who made his first appearance since signing on a one-year loan from Warrington Wolves.
The honour of the first try fell to Jouffret. An Alex Walker kick struck the chest of Fax’s stand-off, who calmly collected the ball before powerfully racing clear.
Adam Tangata, who was making his 150th appearance for the Panthers, was replaced just before the half-hour mark by Doro, who made an instant impact. He kept a loose ball alive ten metres out, found Jouffret,
who turned provider, as Saltonstall, in his 200th game for Fax, gleefully collected a looping pass to make it 8-0, with Joe Keyes helping himself to his first points of the afternoon.
London got back into the contest when Eckersley
latched onto a grubber kick, as the Broncos got to within four points before the halftime hooter.
Three tries in the space of 11 second half minutes put the home side, seemingly, fully in control. Walmsley went over for his fourth try of
the season, Doro made it a debut to remember by making it 18-6 under the posts and Jouffret then claimed another assist to help Saltonstall clinch his brace.
But Fax were pegged back when Parata ran onto his own kick and Broncos scored again through Leyland to stun The Shay into silence.
Murray pulled back Parata to deny a certain try, leaving Fax down to 12 men for the final nine minutes but Keyes kicked a nerveless penalty with only three minutes remaining as Fax held on.