Halifax Panthers kickstart their season with a shutout victory over London Broncos

Simon Grix’s Halifax Panthers bounced back from their opening day defeat with a 28-0 victory over the London Broncos, who see their early-season woes continue.

The omens were not good for London, who once again saw themselves go behind within the first 10 minutes of the game as Scotland international Ben Kavanagh chased and claimed his own kick for a score. Defensively, this was an extremely poor try for London to give away as they simply allowed Kavanagh to run straight through them.

However, Jermaine Coleman’s side were resilient and kept the game tight going in at the break, trailing by a slim margin of 6-0.

The second half saw Halifax pounding on the door of the London Broncos defence, and eventually, with 20 minutes remaining, it was the former Broncos man Cory Aston who forced his way through.

Conditions certainly did not represent ‘summer rugby’, and as such, the ball proved difficult to handle. In all, three London players failed to gather a relatively straightforward kick as Aston was able to touch the ball down before it trickled out of play.

Moments later, the contest was near on over as Matt Garside powered over for his first score of the season. Further tries from Ed Barber and Brandon Moore only added insult to injury and exposed the sizeable chinks in the London armour.

For the Panthers, this posed the perfect response to their opening day defeat and gets their campaign underway. However, there will be much tougher tests to come as their next fixture sees them return to the Shay Stadium to welcome early pace setters Widnes Vikings. Grix’s side will have to once again find all of that defensive prowess as they come up against a side that has scored over 100 points in their first two games.

As for London, perhaps inevitably, the early signs are somewhat ominous for the forthcoming campaign. The performances in the opening two games have offered little encouragement and their home game against Whitehaven this Sunday already looks to be crucial.

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