Sloppy Halifax put to the sword by Trinity

An under-strength Halifax were out of their depth against a powerful Trinity line-up, which featured only two academy players in their 22.

The visitors conceded five tries in the first half to trail 28-0 at the break and leaked six more in the second period.

It was a tough afternoon for coach Richard Marshall’s side, who struggled to cope with Trinity’s pace out wide and put themselves under constant pressure with a host of handling errors.

Fax rarely had an opportunity to attack, but did create the first chance, after three minutes, when they kept the ball alive on the last, following a kick by Ben Johnston, but Scott Murrell’s pass sailed past Ben Heaton into touch.

Trinity went ahead moments later, Ireland internationals Liam Finn and Scott Grix linking to send Mason Caton-Brown over at the corner from a scrum after Heaton had spilled former Halifax man Finn’s kick into touch.

Finn landed the first of his four conversions. Former Super League young player of the year Tom Johnstone set up the second try, seven minutes later, with a break down the left flank and Joe Arundel was in support to score; then the Wakefield winger dived over acrobatically from his centre’s pass after Grix had made the initial charge.

Arundel scored his second on 28 minutes, from a superb pass by Miller. Tinirau Arona was ruled to be offside when he touched down from Finn’s kick, which was fumbled by Murrell, but Halifax conceded again before the break when Finn and Grix combined to carve out another opening for Caton-Brown.

It took Trinity just two minutes of the second half to increase their advantage, Pauli Pauli crashing over from close-range following yet another Halifax error.

The big forward, signed from Newcastle Knights, added another seven minutes later to make it 40-0.

Johnstone scored his second on the hour and he could have added a third, but opted to send Finn across instead after being teed up by Arundel.

Forward substitute James Batchelor kicked five goals from six attempts. One of those was to improve his own try after he forced his way through the middle with five minutes left.

Johnstone completed his hat-trick in the final seconds when he pounced on a Halifax effort near his own line and raced the length of the field for his hat-trick score.

Wakefield Trinity: Scott Grix, Caton-Brown, Lyne, Arundel, Johnstone, Miller, Finn, Baldwinson, Wood, Hirst, Ashurst, Horo, Arona. Subs Hampshire, Crowther, Batchelor, Kirmond, Kershaw, Jowitt, Pauli, SAnnakin, Ackroyd.

Halifax: Sharp, McGrath, Butler, Syme, Heaton, Murrell, Johnston, Jacob Fairbank, Kaye, Jack Fairbank, Dewhirst, Davies, Simon Grix. Subs Jones, Moore, Morris, Calcott, Brook, Morgan, Stringer, Tyrer.

Referee: Tom Crashley (Wakefield).