MIDLANDS Hurricanes secured just their second away win of the season with a 24-0 victory at Hunslet as Head Coach Rich Squires hailed a “complete performance” from his side.
A debut try from Newcastle loanee Tom Wilkinson and an acrobatic finish from Elliott Wallis gave the Midlands side a two-score lead at the break.
And further tries from Tyler Walton and Chris Cullimore – sandwiched around a Ben Stead penalty – wrapped up a clinical and historic win.
The victory marked the first time a Midlands side had won against a traditional heartlands club away from home and keeps Hurricanes mathematical play-off hopes alive.
Squires said: “It’s a win that has been building for a number of weeks. We often compete for 50 or 60 minutes only to fall off, but this was a complete performance.
“We dominated from start to finish and took our chances when needed. We forced our hand a little too many times in the second half, which put us under pressure but we defended brilliantly and the zero on the scoreboard is more pleasing than the win in my opinion.
“This group has worked hard for each other, put in a great training session this week and they deserve this. This is the first time we’ve beaten a northern team away from home – as either the Hurricanes or the Coventry Bears – so it’s a game-changer. It shows what we can do.
“We’ve been known as the nearly men, and there’s only so much of that we could take – hopefully we can drive on from this into the back end of the season.”
The deadlock was broken on 20 minutes when Wilkinson scooted over from dummy half for an easy score.
And the visitors stretched their lead just past the half-hour mark when Wallis finished a stunning move with a sensational score in the corner.
The Midlands club withstood plenty of early pressure in the second period before Walton cut through the Hunslet defence to leap over and score.
And the away side soaked up everything their opponents threw at them with some resolute defending as Ben Stead extended their advantage with a penalty from 20-metres out.
The game was finished as a contest two minutes from time when Cullimore scored his second try in as many matches to create history.
Hurricanes are next in action at home to Oldham on Sunday, August 7 with kick-off moved back to 5.30pm at Portway.
