Hunslet RLFC 0-56 York Knights
Hunslet slumped to another large home defeat to table topping York Knights yesterday at the South Leeds Stadium (10 August 2025).
The Parksiders have a raft of injuries and have had to take on loan players, and although early on they made a game of it the quality and experience of York showed through in the end.
Missing Lee Gaskell and Sam Ackroyd at half-back Hunslet had to play Billy Jowitt and Mason Corbett out of position, but the first try on 4 minutes came from a simple missed tackle. Breaking down the right Ben Jones-Bishop showed too much pace to score under the posts. Will Dagger adding the extras. 0-6
5 minutes later after Hunslet had had some possession York broke the line too easily and an offload sent Conner Bailey over. 0-12
It could be a long afternoon for the hosts. But with York making some handling errors Hunslet asserted some pressure. Rugless and Jowitt’s kicking forced dropouts, but The Parksiders lacked ideas close to the line.
After a bizarre Liam Welham kick was headed on York found themselves near Hunslet’s line again. The home side defended well, but Paul McShane used his experience and spotted a long ball out wide for Scott Galeano to score. 0-16 on 21 minutes.
A real chance to score for the hosts came minutes later when on-loan winger Jack Rampton spotted an interception and set off up the right touch line, but again McShane showed his experience and shepherded Rampton out wide before a last ditch tackle by Jordan Thompson stopped a certain try.
The try would have been deserved at this point in the game for Hunslet, but the killer blow came 2 minutes into added time when Galeano again rounded the defence to score in the corner, before York converted an easy penalty on the hooter to make the score 0-22 at the break.
Hunslet began the second half on the front foot but couldn’t force a decent chance (the kicking going dead or in touch), and on 50 minutes after a penalty Conor Fitzsimmons slipped out of a tackle to score another York try. 0-28
After the match Hunslet Head Coach Kyle Trout was damning of his side’s defence in the later stages, and 3 minutes later Dagger sliced through weak tackling to put Oliver Field over (McShane converting) 0-34.
Although Lloyd McEwan-Peters ran with guile for Hunslet, York were in for the kill, Jordan Thompson scored too easily on 65 minutes to make it 0-40. Then blow out tries came from Mata’afa, Martin and Clarke to round off a good day for the Knights, brilliantly pushed around the field by Paul McShane.
It was always going to be a tough ask today for Hunslet, but again the hosts fell off tackles in the latter stages of a home game. Hopefully some of the injuries are sorted for next week when Head Coach Kyle Trout can afford to play players in the usual positions.
Jack Rampton won the Tricks of the Trade Sponsors and Phoenix Bar supporters player of the match, and there were also good efforts from Kobe Rugless and Jimmy Watson.
Hunslet travel to Odsal to take on Halifax Panthers next Sunday (17 August).
Hunslet RLFC: Watson, Rampton, Welham, McEwan-Peters, Nichol, Jowitt, Corbett, Hallas, Hutchinson, Foster, Gilmore, Gallagher, Rugless. Interchanges: Fletcher, Clavering, Syme, Larroyer. 18th player: Carr.
York Knights: Dagger, Jones-Bishop, Buchanan, Law, Galeano, Hingano, Mata’afa, Martin, McShane, Reynolds, Field, Bailey, Thompson. Interchanges: Pemberton, Santi, Fitzsimmons, Clark. 18th player: Brown.
Photo: Jack Rampton tries to beat McShane (Craig Irvine)
