Playing at the historic Fartown rugby league ground, home to many massive games in the past including two early 20th century Challenge Cup finals, seemed to inspire the lads from Halifax. From early in the warm-up it was evident the boys were here to put right a few wrongs from the past few weeks. The lads looked eager to get going and they had a glint in their eye waiting for kick-off…

From the very first kick the hunger, enthusiasm and determination of the Park boys bubbled to the surface and after immediately regaining possession the hard running second row Archie Awty was too big and strong for the home defence and powered over to open the scoring within the first 2 minutes.

With KXP running harder than they have all season and, to the delight of Coach James Forster, putting on some slick passing, KXP were too fast and too clever for the opposition and continued to dominate the first half. KXP park key pivots Harry Forster and Callum Sutcliffe were fantastic in the middle of the park distributing the ball with speed and precision and controlling the game expertly. Stand-in full back Donny Hoyle looked dangerous every time the ball found his hands and in our flying wide men Dylan Jowett, Mason Gill, Jordan Varley and Joseph Beevers, KXP always looked to have far too much firepower to be held back.

But in true Rugby League fashion the game was won and lost in the forwards. Loose forward Josh Beck was a constant thorn in the home teams side, breaking the line at will and making his usual high tackle count in the middle of the park. A defensive and offensive masterclass from outstanding backrowers Archie Awty and Tom Ridley, before his unfortunate injury cut short his day, repelled any hopes the St Joes boys had of mounting a challenge. With KXP having the luxury of rotating our two monsters-in-the-middle Connor Considine and Kial Strawson, the two props were eager workhorses in the middle of the park and coupled barnstorming runs with some punishing defence.

Highlights from the first half saw Tom scoop up a dropped ball inside his own 20m and show a burst of speed to leave everyone standing and score an outstanding 60m try that on many other days would have been a shoe-in for magic moment . Unfortunately shortly after Tom had to leave the field with a re-occurring rib injury which was a huge shame as this was a game ripe for him to stamp his defensive authority on.

KXP extended the lead with Josh showing his strength to score his first of the day bashing through the defensive line from 10 yards out. Speedster Donny grabbed a well-deserved try cutting through chasing defenders with trademark speed to touch down.

The games eventual magic moment came in the form of a lightning quick Joseph Beevers. In a passing play straight out of Coach Forsters Wednesday training playbook the ball was whipped the entire length of the field through at least 6 pairs of KXP hands before intertwined passes from Callum, Harry and Dylan found the newcomer Joseph Beevers who has been a revelation on the wing since joining the KXP ranks this season. With a neat step Joe cut a perfect line inside the desperate St Joseph fullback to score an outstanding team try under the posts.

The teamwork and comradery between the boys was evident throughout the entire game but no one moment showed this better than the emotional try scored by Connor Considine. With Connor unfortunately losing his grandma in the week previous to the game, he had spoken to some of the boys of his desire to grab a try in her honour. In the later stages of the half Josh once more overpowered the home defence and had a clear run to the line only for the unselfish loose forward to angle his run towards the supporting Connor and, after physically pushing a few eager KXP runners out of the way, popped the ball into his mates arms for the tough prop to grab a well-earned, poignant try. Seeing an ecstatic Connor pointing up to the sky proved that individual glory pales in comparison to teamwork and supporting your mates when they need you.

With KXP firmly in the driving seat the second half continued much in the same vein with Park continuing to turn the screw in a dedicated performance.

A second try for Josh came with a 60m long range effort almost a carbon copy of Toms in the first half. This was followed by a terrific double try effort from Dylan, who had had an absolute stormer of a game, his best in recent times and thoroughly deserved his trys. Joe grabbed his second with a cheeky little scoot from dummy half. His raw speed again proving too much for the home side.

St Joes did try to mount some offence in the half but determined defensive efforts they were unable to dent the line. Solid defence across the KXP forward pack repelled the St Joseph attack and a couple of huge hits from Mason Gill rightfully earned him a shout out in the awards but honourable mention has to go to Prop Kial who entered the fray in the second half and made a series of 4 one-on-one tackles in a row to nullify almost an entire St Joes set of six single handedly.

Late in the game it was the turn of pivots Harry and Callum to turn from providers to point scorers with Callum grabbing two great solo trys showing the full range of his fancy footwork and Hooker Harry smashing through the line from dummy half to grab a very well deserved try.

The official final score was given as 54-12 by the referee but rather forgivably given the speed some of the trys came it appears he missed one out!

While the scoreline was thoroughly pleasing to Coach James and to all the parents in attendance, the manner in which KXP achieved the win was by far the biggest victory of the day. With 9 different try scorers, plenty of unselfish teamwork and a work ethic and desire to do the tough stuff, this was far and away the best team performance of the season and showed that things are starting to click within the squad.

Tryscorers – Archie Awty, Josh Beck x 2, Callum Sutcliffe x 2, Joseph Beevers x 2, Donny Hoyle, Harry Forster, Tom Ridley, Dylan Jowett x 2, Connor Considine,

Goals – Archie Awty, Callum Sutcliffe x 2, Donny Hoyle, Dylan Jowett, Kial Strawson

• Man of the Match - Josh Beck
• Parents Man of the Match - Josh Beck
• Opposition Man of the Match - Dylan Jowett
• Top Tackler - Mason Gill/Dylan Jowett
• Magic Moment - Joseph Beevers
• Coaches Award - Archie Awty/Harry Forster