Pre-season friendly round-up: Wakefield Trinity and Bradford Bulls impress
Seven preparatory friendlies took place today, including a team from the Super League.
So here’s a recap of today’s action.
Wakefield Trinity 28-16 Halifax Panthers
Wakefield Trinity hosted the Halifax Panthers this afternoon in ex-Hull FC center Reece Lyne’s testimonial.
It didn’t take long for Mark Applegarth’s side to celebrate Lyne in style as Jay Pitts scored the opening goal within minutes of kick-off. As he did against Leeds Rhinos on Boxing Day, Pitts hit a good line and sliced through to take Mason Lino 6-0.
The man everyone wanted to meet almost made it as the game went into the second quarter.
When a kick bounced around in the Halifax’s goal, Lyne nearly hit the ground before the Panthers got to him.
However, Lineham was on hand to ensure Lyne tried on his special day as his selfless pass gave Lyne his special moment as Trinity made it 12-0.
Following in Pitts’ footsteps early in the game, a Boxing Day try-scorer came in for a try today when substitute Eddie Battye came on to score Wakefield’s third.
It was 18-0 at the break. At the break, Wakefield made big changes and within three minutes a Wakefield error was penalized, with the Panthers breaking out of the error before batting Louis Jouffret.
After encouraging signs from the Panthers, Wakefield scored again in the 56th minute. A high kick was executed by Lee Kershaw, who set up Morgan Smith to score in his second appearance for the club: 22-4.
Wakefield scored his fifth and final try of the game and a second from Smith. Mason Lino broke through and after a few offloads, Smith crossed.
In the last 10 minutes, Halifax crossed two tries with former Warrington Wolves man Tom Inman coming by for a first try followed by a first try for Jake Maizen.
Dewsbury Rams 16-34 Bradford Bulls
There is a lot of excitement surrounding Bradford Bulls at the moment after making some key signings ahead of the 2023 season and dreaming of promotion to the Super League.
One of their biggest signings debuted today in the form of Jack Walker at full-back in the No. 31 shirt as the Bulls took on the Dewsbury Rams away.
After building pressure, Brad Foster opened the scoring and scored in the 11th minute.
Tom Holmes, surprisingly in the number one jersey instead of Walker but playing in the halves, made a try for Kieran Gill with a well-weighted cultivator that allowed Gill to score.
To honor Dewsbury, they managed a try by Lewis Collinson, who broke through and scored.
But Jack Walker soon crowned his debut with a try. In the 37th minute, Gill paused and Walker, as he often did in a Leeds Rhinos shirt, popped up on his shoulder to run from 40 yards to score.
Then, just before half-time, Bradford made it 24-6 at the break when Myler Lawford dropped his shoulder to work his way through the goal after a scrum.
Another debutant, Joe Arundel, had the first try of the second half as Jordan Lilley, starting at Hooker, provided Arundel to score in his second debut for the club after leaving Halifax Panthers since the former Castleford Tigers man appears to be enjoying his return.
After that, Lilley went from provider to goalscorer when he shot through after an excellent scrum move.
Dewsbury crossed two tries in the final five minutes as Sam Day and Jimmy Beckett crossed.
Widnes Vikings 46-6 Rochdale Hornets
Widnes ran in eight attempts today to defeat Rochdale. Edge scored a hat trick and scored five goals, scoring 22 points. Former St Helens player Kyle Amor and former Hull FC player Jordan Johnstone made their debuts.
Doncaster 12-28 York
York scored 20 unanswered points in the second half to turn an 8-12 deficit into a 28-12 win ahead of the 2023 season.
Barrow Raiders 52-24 Crusaders from North Wales
Barrow ran in nine tries to defeat the North Wales Crusaders in a crushing victory over the Crusaders to start 2023.
Swinton Lions 44-10 Midlands Hurricanes
Following promotion to the Championship, the Lions defeated their former League 1 rivals 44-10 to start 2023.
Whitehaven 22-6 Workington Town
Whitehaven won the Ike Southward Memorial Trophy in a physical matter.
