sheffield hillsborough hawks pennine team

Darryl began his rugby league career as an 18 yr old at Clowne ARLFC. After a year there he progressed to Nottingham RLFC where he stayed for 3 years and picked up several accolades. His first year he was voted Young player of the Year, his 2nd season he was runner up to Player of the Year and in the 3rd season actually walked away with the title – Player of the Year. In the 1995-96 season Darryl moved onto York Wasps when he picked up the supporters award of Most Improved Player. His second season saw him go to Halifax on loan for two months, when Roger Millward was coach at York and Steve Simms was at ‘Fax. He return to York after a not too successful period at ‘Fax and finished playing at York after 50-60 games and a broken arm. A six week stint at Doncaster and 6 first team appearances then saw his “retirement” under the coaching wing of Tony Fisher. Work commitments were the reason, so he took to the amateur league ranks with Rotherham, where he played for 8-9 years.

He was a successful member of the English Lionhearts and played against GB Students, the Australian and New South Wales Police, Wales, Scotland and Ireland.

"Jacko" played for the Hawks during the summer and Rotherham in the winter and was then asked by Jason Davidson (ex-Eagle Alliance Team, Doncaster Don, Hillsborough Hawk, Huddersfield (conditioner) and now Leeds (conditioner)) if he fancied assisting the coaching down at the Hawks. He enjoys his time at Hillsborough because of the amount of youth involvement which is a good basis for development and an ideal foundation for the future.

In his youth Lynton was regarded as one of the best amateurs in the game. He played as a fullback for the Woolston (Warrington) team, and had previously also starred for the Lancashire Schoolboys at Rugby Union.
On 19th December 1992 he joined the professional ranks with Sheffield Eagles with whom he had a first-class RL stint, including a Wembley triumph, being mainly used as a goal kicking winger. He scored his one and only hat trick for Eagles against Paris SG on 15th June 1996 (SLI) in the 52 - 18 victory at Don Valley Stadium
Lynton played 304 professional games for 5 clubs. They were 151 for Sheffield in two stints covering 8 of his 15 years in the professional game, scoring 241 points for the eagles, 73 for Hull KR scoring 381 points and also played for Doncaster Wakefield and Workington. He has amassed 820 points of which 456 came from tries. (114 tries!!)
His experience is a great asset to the young Hawks players.

Queensbury A; Silsden Park Rangers; Stainland Stags; Thornton; Underbank Rangers; Wortley Dragons

Sheffield Hillsborough Hawks (32) 38 Rotherham Roosters(6) 20 .. 23rd August 2007

In this pre-season match between the two highly successful sides of last season the Roosters, promoted to Division 2 with only one loss last term, were shown that the Hawks, promoted to Division 4, with one loss, were not going to be the easy prey this time compared to the corresponding match 12 months earlier. (Hawks 30 Roosters 40).

Both sides had a fair selection of players well known to each other and to rugby league in Sheffield, with several Sheffield Eagles Academy players involved, ex- Eagles first teamers and players who have been members of the "opposition".

From the kick off the Hawks went on the offensive and within the first 3 minutes Andy Gwilliam had put the first try on the scoreboard. He played a major part in the overall display of the Hawks and was certainly a contender for the man of the match award, if there had been one.
Joe Barber took the first kick which nearly everyone thought was successful, apart from the touch judges who waved it off as a miss. Constant pressure by the Hawks, ably led by the driving runs of Steve Craven, who took no prisoners and superb support from Mark Slatter and Luke Holt made the Rotherham side generate plenty of mistakes and forced them into a large amount of tackling.

Rob and Wayne North of the Roosters were trying to make inroads into the Hawks defence, but it stood firm with Neil Harrison and Steve Craven, along with the youngster Luke Holt making their tackles count. Wilf Fairbank was covering all angles at centre and was eventually rewarded with Hawks second try on 11 minutes which Joe Barber managed to hit the posts with, and it fell the wrong side of the uprights.
Hawks were eight nil up and certainly playing as if they were the 2nd division side not the 4th division.

It was surprising that there were not too many "silly" errors and after another concerted effort, Hawks found themselves on the score sheet again 5 minutes later with a typical 2nd rower's try from Mark Slatter who went in from 4 yards out, close to the left upright. This time Barber made no mistake. 14 points, 16 minutes and no reply from the visitors. A very encouraging start for the enthusiastic Hawks.

The Roosters were already "getting at each other". Silly errors, lack of concentration, was the call of the players but Hawks capitalised on this and Andy Gwilliam, looking very fit, went in for his 2nd on 20 minutes, again converted by Barber. An astute substitution put the young John-Jo Breen on who was playing really well and making a nuisance of himself and on 26 minutes he, along with the trusty boot of Barber increased the score to 26 points without reply.

Rotherham appeared rattled and no matter what the young James Allen or the old head and experience of Rob North, along with crowd (?) favourite Bryn Evans, did the Hawks were on a roll. Craven went on battering runs, tackled as if there was no tomorrow and Harry Whales was more secure than Fort Knox.

Vince Caldwell was the next to add to the score sheet with some excellent backing up from open play that took him in close to the touch line, for Barber to add to his tally.

The Hawks seemed to go off the boil for the next ten minutes and no matter how hard Luke Holt, Dan Gray and Michael Wall (I glad he wasn't tackling me) tried the Rotherham line could not be breeched again this half.

It was the excellent running of the half backs James Allen and Bryn Evans that combined for Allen to score a "consolation" try of the half and Evans to convert at the half time whistle.

Steve Hunter was the only scorer for the Hawks in the second half on 46 minutes, again converted by Barber, who did actually come off for a rest and to have a split mended just above his eye.

Steve Craven, Michael Wall and Luke Holt were thorns in the Roosters side, but, the big forwards of Roosters did start to make an impression on the Hawks, and if it wasn't for the defence of Harry Whales, and his running out of trouble, the runs of Wilf Fairbank and Ian Robinson, and the speed of Leon M-D the Hawks would have conceded quite a few more points. Simon Travis put in a good stint and Craig Short showed some of his old form, but will, we hope, improve as the season goes on, when he regains some speed and fitness.

Steve Hunter and John-Jo Breen were excellent substitutes and showed that the Hawks could be a force to reckon with this season.

Rotherham took control of the match, in terms of scoring as they added tries from Ben Moore and Evan Shannanon (?spelling), neither converted by Bryn Evans and finished the game off with a try from Scott North, converted by James Allen.

Final score Hawks 38 Roosters 20.

Match Stats:
Referee: Bernie Hunter
Penalties: Hawks (5) 5 Roosters (4) 6
Time awarded to Hawks: 5,10,25,28,32. Awarded to Roosters:13,24,38,39,60,61
Tackles: Hawks 97 Roosters 136
Hawks top tacklers: Neil Harrison 24, Steve Craven 23, Andy Gwilliam 22
Hawks Metres Gained: 887
Top Men: Steve Craven 110, Harry Whales 97, Wilf Fairbank 94
Hitups 124 Top man : Steve Craven 15
Completion Rate: 68.6% 1st half: 76.2%, 2nd half 57.1%.
Errors: 9 knock ons, 2 lost control of ball in tackle, ball put in touch
Sets lost : Numbers - 4,5,7,12,21,25,26, 28,30,32,33,34.

Hawks: Harry Whales; Joe Barber; Ian Robinson; Vince Caldwell; Leon Malcolm-Downs; Dan Gray; Neil Harrison; Steve Craven; Craig Short; Luke holt; Mark Slatter; Andy Gwilliam; Wilf Fairbank; John Jo Breen; Simon Travis; Steve Hunter; Michael Wall.
Scorers: Tries: Gwilliam (3, 20); Fairbank (11); Slatter (16); Breen (26); Caldwell (29); Hunter ( 46) Goals: Barber 5/7

Roosters: Danny Beasley; Ben Moore; Wayne Gregory; Scott North; Abi Khartrime; Bryn Evans; James Allen; Wayne North; Sam Moore; Rob North; Dan Lynch; Chris Bell; Steve Burns; Craig Woolley; Alan Concannon; Evan Shannanon; Jodi Sheffield
Scorers: Allen (40); Moore (48); Shannanon (63); North S (76). Goals : Evans 1/3; Allen 1/1

Sheffield Hillsborough Hawks (12) 30 Bradford Dudley Hill A (4) 10....1st September 2007

A very young looking Dudley Hill came out of the blocks at great speed and shocked the Hawks defence and supporters by running in an easy unconverted try on the 6th minute.
Scott Halstead made it look so easy, but James Backs made a horrendous attempt at a conversion.
It took until the 26th minute before Harry Whales broke the Hill's defence to put the first points on the board, with the conversion by Joe Barber.
Hawks were having great difficulty in keeping hold of the ball and just could not complete their sets of six. They had, after 26 minutes, only completed 6 sets, through knocking on and making forward passes.
Steve Craven then went on the first of his uncompromising runs covering 60 yards to score the first of his two tries on 28 minutes, again converted by Barber. Craven was immediately substituted, so that he could recover !!

The Hawks started to play some good defensive rugby as Hill tried their hardest to break the Hawks line but they were guilty themselves of elementary errors.

Many of the Hawks players were gaining large amounts of yards, particularly Nathan Hall, Luke Holt Harry Whales, Wilf Fairbank and some incredible tackling by Craven, Holt, Dan Gray and Craig Short, well supported by Slatter and Mclean, but the final part of crossing the whitewash was eluding them, and Vince Caldwell managed, after a great series of passes, to knock on after crossing the try line on the 39th minute, and at half time the Hawks went in 12 points to 4 up.

Having got all 4 subs on the field, the second half started quite brightly and Wilf Fairbank started the ball rolling with a well taken try on the 42nd minute, this time the conversion was missed by Barber.

With a few bizarre refereeing decisions having already been given and no advantage being allowed by the Hawks, Hill stole the ball in a four man tackle on Barber about 15 yards out from the Hawks line and Neil Beck was allowed to run in un-opposed for the Hill's 2nd and final try which was converted by Simon Senior.
Barber was fairly vociferous about the referee's ability to see the action which had taken place and was, consequently given the opportunity for an early shower and chance to get the round in at the bar.

Although Hawks were down to 12 men, no matter what Hill tried they could not break through. Their tactics were a little strong, to say the least, with the bruises showing on the Hawks players arms and legs after the game.
At the end of the third quarter Fairbank went in for his second which Dan Gray failed to convert. He was putting in a fantastic tackling display though.

His brother, Tom, was rewarded with a try on the 70th minute, but Dan could not tag on the extras.

The completion of the sets was improving all of the time and by the time Steve Craven was given the ball on the 25th minute he decided that he fancied another crack at the try line and the Dudley Hill bunch could do nothing to stop him having another easy 40 yard run to score his second try.
This time Dan did the honours and converted the try into 6 points and the Hawks finished the game as 30 points to 10 winners.

Hawks:Ricky Gregory; Nathan Hall; Tom Gray; Vince Caldwell; Joe Barber; Dan Gray; Harry Whales; Steve Craven; Craig Short; Scott Mclean; Luke Holt; Mark Slatter; Wilf Fairbank; John-Jo Breen; Richard Allen; Leon Malcolm-Downs; Michael Wall.
Hawks Scorers - Steve Craven - 2 ,Wilf Fairbank - 2 ,Tom Gray,Harry Whales: Goals Joe Barber 2 (67%); Dan Gray 1 (33%)

Dudley Hill: Neil Beck; Steve Smith; Simon Kenefice; Scott Halstead; Craig Charlton; Danny Whitely, James Becks; John Vakhikouks; Nathan Kitson; Scott Harland; Ryan McConnell; Ross Mezals; Chris Walsh; Neil Harland; Simon Senior; Sean Kelly, Gaz Reid
Hill scorers: Halstead (6min); Beck (52 min) : goals Senior (1/1) [James Backs 0/1]

Hawks stats:
Hawks Metres gained 763: Top metres Steve Craven 174
Tackles 152: Top Tackler Dan Gray 21 : Missed tackles 23 : Hit ups 102
Completion
1st half 52.9%; 2nd half 68.7%: Overall 60.8%

Penalties: Hawks 4 Bradford 0: Scrums: Hawks (8) 15 Bradford (8) 11

Sent off - Joe Barber (52 min)

No.	NAME		TACKLES			MISSED	HITUP	METRES
No.	NAME		1^st	Sup	S	MISSED	HITUP	METRES
I	Gregory	Ricky	4	4	8	1	4	33
2	Hall	Nathan	6	1	8	1	10	62
3	Gray	Tom	8	5	13	1	8	55
4	Caldwell	Vince	2	1	3	0	8	46
5	Barber	Joe	4	2	6	1	4	24
6	Gray	Dan	15	6	21	4	3	20
7	Whales	Harry	1	2	3	0	2	50
8	Craven	Steve	6	5	11	2	8	174
9	Short	Craig	11	1	12	0	4	18
10	Mclean	Scott	4	3	7	1	5	19
11	Holt	Luke	9	8	17	1	13	71
12	Slatter	Mark	4	6	10	1	4	22
13	Fairbank	Wilf	4	2	6	1	9	36
14	Breen	JJ	5	8	13	2	4	14
15	Allen	Richard	3	6	9	2	5	22
16	Malcolm-Downs	Leon	1	1	2	1	5	72
17	Wall	Michael	2	1	3	1	6	25
TOTALS			89	62	152	20 (+ 3)	102	763

Fourth Division Results Week 1
Sheffield Hillsborough Hawks	30	-	10	Dudley Hill A
Queensbury A	20	-	14	Thornton
Hollinwood	21	-	10	Meltham All Blacks
Silsden Park Rangers	0	-	65	Wortley Dragons

Meltham All Blacks (0) 6 Sheffield Hillsborough Hawks (12) 38.... 8th September 2007

A bare-boned Hawks side continued where they left off last week and put in a tremendous display of committed rugby against an enthusiastic Meltham team. Meltham were awarded their 2nd penalty in the 2nd minute, but failed to convert the opportunity. The Hawks then started to take a grip of the game scoring the first of their 7 tries on the 21st minute, after a blockbusting burst by Michael Wall, converted by Joe Barber. The only other score of the half came from a Barber converted try scored Tom Gray.

The second half gave the Hawks the advantage of the slope and the tiring of the Meltham pack and within 10 minutes of the restart Gray (Tom for his 2nd), Barber and Mclean had crossed the Meltham line and Hawks had a 28 point advantage.

The Hawks forwards dominated the play with some huge hitups and tackles.

Further tries by Ricky Gregory and Vince Caldwell made the game secure and a consolation try for Meltham was scored with 2 minutes left on the clock.

HAWKS team: GRAY Tom; WOODS Nick; BARBER Joe; CALDWELL Vince; HALL Nathan; GRAY Dan; GREGORY Ricky; WALL Michael; SHORT Craig; MCLEAN Scott; HOLT Luke; RIDLEY Rob; SLATTER Mark.

Scorers: Tries:- T Gray (33,43); Barber(45) ; Caldwell (72); Gregory (57); Wall (21); Mclean (50). Goals :- Barber 5/7 [Dan Gray 0/1]

Meltham All Blacks: HEALEY Lewis; WILSON Richard; DAWSON Shaun;LEWIS Robert; ROEBUCK David; BOWER Shaun; LODGE Alan;WHITE Ben; CARTER Matthew; CARMODY Paul; MCEVER Paul; WHITE Ross; HIRD Matthew; STEPHENSON Chris; GARDINER Simon; MALACHY Joe; SYKES Ian.
Scorers: Try - Bower (78) Goal :- Lewis (1/1)

Man of the Match went to Tom Gray and an excellent performance by the whole team

Hawks stats:
Hawks Metres gained 1040: Top metres Luke Holt 182
Tackles 165: Top Tackler Rob Ridley 29 : Missed tackles 6 : Hit ups 110
Completion 1st half 63.3%; 2nd half 63.1%: Overall 63.2%[26/41]

Penalties: Meltham (5) 8 Hawks (5) 12 Scrums: Meltham 0 Hawks 6

No.	NAME		TACKLES			MISS	HITUP	METRES
No.	NAME		1^st	Sup	Tot	MISS	HITUP	METRES
I	Tom	GRAY	7	1	8	0	8	144
2	Nick	WOODS	2	5	7	0	13	104
3	Joe	BARBER	9	2	11