Halifax crash out of Northern Rail Cup

Correspondent

Halifax crashed out of the Northern Rail Cup with a shock 42-36 defeat at home to Championship 1 side Hunslet.

The Hawks, who needed a win to progress in place of Halifax and their Championship rivals Featherstone, took a 22-12 first half lead, and then held on to claim the win at The Shay and book their place in the quarter finals.

Richard Knight scored a try and four goals, with further tries coming from Richard Chapman, Neil Lowe, James Houston, Nathan Larvin, Charlie Wabo and Michael Mark, with Frank Watene, Anthony Bowman, Luke Branighan, Dylan Nash (2) and Rob Worrincy scoring for the home side.

Halifax were backing up after a tough game against Widnes on Thursday night, and fell to their second defeat, having previously lost to Sheffield in the group stages.

Hunslet join Barrow, Batley, Keighley, Leigh, Sheffield, Widnes and York in the draw for the quarter-finals, which takes place live on Boots n All on Wednesday night.