NURL 1sts – 34
Northumbria 1sts – 20
Ed Ainscoe
Following the heroics of the club’s second team, the stage was set for a gutsy performance from the Newcastle Owls, keen to emulate 2008’s double victory over their city rivals, the bizarrely named ‘Ninjawolves’. Despite some disruption caused by injuries in the run up to the game, NURL went in to the game at full strength, welcoming back big time accountant Dave Knox and proud father Richard Massey, and boasting student rugby league’s finest hair cut with Mikey Ward’s fine Mohawk.
The game could not have got off to a worse start for NURL, with Northumbria ripping the NURL left side defence apart with seeming ease, and the poly’s rangy back line being given far too much space in which to operate, gifting them the opening try and conversion. Only minutes later the Royals found themselves even further behind, with weak defence down the middle allowing a lumbering simpleton to fall over the Newcastle line. At twelve points to nil down after only eight minutes, a rout seemed to be on the cards, with the Northumbria team looking to justify their status in the Super Six league of the SRL.
Despite this early shock, the Newcastle team grew with confidence as the minutes went by. Mikey Bryan set the tone for his tenacious display in defence with a huge hit on one of the Ninjawolves centres, sending the flummoxed young man into oblivion with a thunderous challenge. Buoyed by this and greater control of the pig skin, good field position allowed Ainscoe to flop over the line from close range, with the referee dismissing claims of a knock on from the vexed Northumbrians. Despite the poly scoring points through a penalty goal, Newcastle finished the half in much the stronger fashion, with Mikey Ward ploughing his way through hapless defenders with ease to create a converted try, leaving Newcastle down 14-10 at the break.
Uncompromising defense from Knox, Ainscoe and Massey
After sterling half time encouragement from coach Steven Thompson, the Owls returned to the arena to be greeted by vociferous applause from the swelling Newcastle crowd, and by slovenly baying and jeering from the other portion of the stand. Picking up from where the first half finished, the NURL juggernaut surged into action, with Trigger Brady earning an early penalty following the use of his unorthodox plank hand off on the face of an unsuspecting opposition scholar. This penalty and a probing run from centre John Kingswood gave NURL the chance to attack the Northumbria line, with Andrew Urquhart gathering an offload from second row James ‘Half Pipe’ Phillips to cross for his inaugural NURL try, albeit unconverted. As Northumbria’s heads began to drop, NURL fully took with ascendancy, with Man of the Match Sam Boyd leading the charge out defence, making room for Kevin Davey to finish off a fine move with a crushing dart to the line, giving NURL the lead. Although the poly crossed for a converted try, their ranks disintegrated, and NURL tightened their vice like grip on the game, with centre and kipper Liam McGee dancing his way over for another try. Sadly the Bradfordian’s kicking was again off target, but it mattered little when Mikey Ward touched down, following a trade mark spatula off-load from Ainscoe to Davey, with the winger using his limited handling skills to create a gap for Ward.
Ward Boshing over and through the hapless ‘Poly’ rear guard
As the game entered its dying stages, Rob Seagraves side stepped a trundling prop, bumbling his way over the line to convincingly take the game from Northumbria’s reach. The referee’s final whistle was greeted with jubilation throughout the NURL ranks, with celebrations lasting long into the night. With many NURLians moving at the end of the year, this game was a fitting tribute to their tremendous effort throughout this and previous seasons.
The Victorious Team (clockwise from top left; Ed Ainscoe, Jim Phillips, Basher Macdonaghue, Andrew Urquhart, Jo Robinson, Michael Brady, Sam Boyd, Liam Mcgee, Dave Knox, Murray James, Unknown, Dave Furniss, Uri Kinswood, Rich Massey, Oscar Massey, Mike Ward, Rishi Sumra, Steven Thompson, Kevin Davey, Robse Graves, Mikey Bryan)