Wednesbury 8 Old Halesonians 35.

Old Halesonians continued their winning start to the season with an emphatic win away at Wednesbury. It took the visitors 60 minutes to get going, however, in what was a frustrating day for the Wassell Grove outfit. Starting the game playing down asignificant slope, Hales failed to take advantage of the conditions and considerable possession in a largely uneventful first half. A Mark Wakefield penalty after 12 minutes broke the deadlock, with Hales following this up with a well-worked try out wide through wing Alex Church. Hales looked to be comfortable going into half time with an eight-point lead, when against the run of play, Wednesbury’s powerful forwards bulldozed over.

The second half was a different story, with Hales adding 27 points against a solitary Wednesbury penalty. Both sides traded penalties early on after the break.

Hales were getting the upper-hand but continued to battle it out with Wednesbury’s forwards in a war of attrition, but when Thomas Dempsey was sin-binned in the 53rd minute for entering a ruck from the side, they had to content themselves with parity. Once back to a full compliment, there was no stopping Hales, who had finally found their stride. An attacking scrum saw Chris Wagstaff go over for a score, duly converted by Wakefield. Four-minutes later, some excellent back play form Hales, and a deft offload from second row Eoin McMahon, put centre Tim Curtis through under the posts for a converted try. In the final minute, Hales’ tempo again stretched the home defence, creating half a chance for Church, who seized his opportunity, beating his opposite man and racing in for a second try and man of the match award. Wakefield finished a perfect day with the boot by adding the conversion. Next week Hales face Bridgnorth at home (3pm kick-off).