Halifax 52 Barrow Raiders 6: Murrell leads Halifax to rout against Barrow

The Championship leaders were never expected to toil against Darren Holt’s survival strugglers, and so it proved.

Karl Harrison’s outfit opened up a 30-0 lead inside the opening half hour, by which point the coach had already begun to rotate key players with one eye on next weekend’s crucial league date at Featherstone.

Captain and stand-off Scott Murrell was the architect of that early onslaught, setting up tries for full-back Ryan Fieldhouse and prop Luke Ambler before scoring a third himself.

Halifax added further scores from Anthony Thackeray and a second from Fieldhouse to end the game as a contest by the 28th-minute, with wing Lee Paterson converting all five.

They eased off the pace in the second period, Barrow’s former Wakefield half back Liam Campbell grabbing his side’s only try to cut the gap to 30-6.

But Halifax finished strongly with Paterson, Thackeray, Murrell and hooker Craig Ashall all crossing in the last 15 minutes to underline their dominance.

Halifax: Fieldhouse; Paterson, Heaton, Sheriffe, Reittie; Murrell, Thackeray; Tonks, C. Ashall, Ambler, Manning, Divorty, Adamson. Substitutes: K Ashall, Bracek, Barlow, Casey.

Barrow: Campbell; Backhouse, Low, Wiper, McGilvray; Finch, Casey; Butler, Danby, M. Haggarty, Harrison, K. Haggerty, Whitehead. Substitutes: Brennan, Nicholson, McGoff, Marwood.

Referee: J Cobb (RFL).

Head coach Garry Charlton has praised Workington’s character after coming back from six points down to win the Cumbrian derby against Whitehaven.

The 16-12 victory at Haven’s Recreation Ground booked Town’s place in the Challenge Cup fifth round at the expense of their rivals.

“It was good to come back because we soaked up a lot of punishment,” said Charlton.

“To get back in the game and get in front was credit to the boys.

“We got the win I think we deserved in the end.”

“It’s another game where we didn’t do what we were supposed to do in the second half,” said Haven coach Dave Woods. “We made their defence look good because we were running across the field with the ball, halves did that instead of straightening up.”