WEST Bowling put up a brave fight at early-season Championship Division front-runners Halifax Irish before being beaten 28-12 in the Pennine League.

The game was a defensive stalemate for the opening quarter – mainly due to the superb field kicking of Bowling player Ben Heald, who continually pegged back the home side.

But some ill discipline gave Halifax the initiative and, with two unconverted tries, they led 8-0 at the break.

Coach Glenn Barraclough's half-time team talk rallied his troops and they were rewarded with a try when Sha Basha spotted a gap on the blind side to send Kyle Moore over, Heald adding the extras.

Ollie Bartle led the way for Bowling with a strong performance and Dan Gregory showed his class with a fine chip-and-chase touchdown.

Elsewhere, Queensbury ran out 38-6 winners against King Cross Park in their first home game of the season.

'Bury did not have it all their own way in the first half, chiefly due to the sin-binning of Billy Naylor, but tries from Rob Nagy and debutant Jason Gelder saw them leading 10-6 at the turnaround.

Coach Gregg Worthington's half-time words then had some real effect as Queensbury came out fired up.

Sam Cheney, Scott Swann and Jack Evison all added tries, while Naylor collected a brace.

Jonjo Naylor picked up the man-of-the-match award for his outstanding display in and around dummy half.

Odsal Sedbergh were beaten 18-16 at St Joseph's in controversial circumstances in Championship Division One, conceding a try in the dying seconds.

With Sedge having appeared to have secured a useful away win, winger Jared Priestly was harshly adjudged to have knocked on. From the resulting scrum, the Huddersfield side scored in the corner to leave the visitors in shock.

Try scorers for Sedge were Tom Halliday, Nick Chapman and Scott Smith.

West Bowling A beat Wortley Dragons 38-20 in a high-scoring Division Four contest.

Stand-off Lewis Poole led the way with two tries and the man-of-the-match gong, ably supported by tries from Karl Robinson, Luke Barraclough, Lee Hutchinson, Mark Dove and Mathew Sharp.

Odsal Sedbergh A grabbed the bragging rights in their Division Six West derby against Queensbury B with a resounding 40-0 victory.

John Adams and Lee Birkett scored a brace apiece, while Jonny Ward, Karl Read, Aiden Lovett and Danny Terry also got in on the act.

There are no Pennine League games this coming Saturday due to the Super League Grand Final.