With a hard-fought victory over Birmingham opposition the indefatigable
NURL 2nd team completed a magnificent and unlikely march to silverware glory.
Tom Burnham receiving the bejewelled salver from Matt Jeffery
The triumph concluded a tumultuous and at times bizarre cup-run that belied the 2nds largely unsuccessful league campaign, indeed, the experiences shared through the tough season seemed to provide the impetus for the Death Machine’s late surge in the BUCS Plate competition.
NURL 2nds – 18
Birmingham 2nds – 12
On the long road to the final the team overcame challenges from Bradford, Lancaster and Edinburgh with methods as diverse as coin toss victories, last minute tries and administrative skulduggery. The last victory proved to be the biggest rabbit out of the hat though with Captain Tom Burnham’s men only made aware of the final 24 hours before kick off.
After some clerical wrangling at the Student Rugby League offices the NURL regime were forced to assemble a team overnight, out of term time, for the do-or-die fixture at the neutral venue in Leeds University’s Weetwood sports complex. Carrots, sticks, threats, and abduction were all required to re-assemble Nurlians from across the UK and a squad of 17 was finally agreed upon after miserly Warrington duo Ste Moorcroft and Will Winter acquiesced in accepting extortionate travel subsidies.
Come match day the team arrived in Yorkshire in drips and drabs with the main body of Newcastle based players hustled from a ramshackle soviet era mini-bus. This was in stark contrast to the enormous Birmingham party of players, coaching staff and supporters who had been preparing for the fixture over a fortnight. By the time the full Newcastle contingent had finally amassed the team only had 20 minutes to change and warm up.
The non-idyllic preparation was immediately forgotten as the game kicked-off with NURL ripping in to Birmingham from the first set. While it soon became clear the Birmingham 2nd team was heavily padded with players from their ‘Super 8’ 1st side the Brummies had clearly not banked on Messrs Moorcroft and Winter rampaging over the Pennines with fistfuls of cash.
NURL, for once, seemed to have a slight size advantage over their opponents and the extra bulk soon paid dividends as James Phillips scored within 10 minutes following some fine work from Hooker Chris Brown in the middle of the park. Robert Andrew duly added the extras with his first of 3 out of 3 successful conversions.
For the remainder of the half Newcastle were dominant but were unable to capitalise on their greater possession and territorial advantage. Overambitious play, (normally the hallmark of a fine NURL performance), continually led to turnovers deep in the Birmingham half while the Midlands side seldom looked like scoring themselves.
For the first part of the 2nd half Birmingham’s larger interchange bench and vociferous support began to swing momentum in their favour. The lack of NURL match preparation was beginning to become apparent as the Owls became lazy around the ruck, gifting Birmingham priceless metres up the middle of the pitch. From one such scooting run they pulled the score to within 2 points from a smart kick on the right flank.
Although Newcastle were immediately placed under pressure from the resulting kick-off some individual brilliance from Man of the Match Joe Robinson soon put the team at ease. After receiving an innocuous ball on the second tackle the Prop surged through the Brummie line and proceeded to eat up the metres like a bag of cheese and onion crisps. Seeming to get perpetually faster Robinson charged through numerous cover tackles spurning the able support of hardworking Wing Eddie Duncan to graciously belly-flop over the line for an emphatic try. The converted score proved to dampen Birmingham spirits and Robinson’s brutal defending in following sets with fellow forwards James Shepherd and John Aktinson put a stop to any sustained resurgence.
In the final minutes of the contest Birmingham were able to make the match seem tighter than it was with a second try awarded in somewhat dubious circumstances. The disputed points were soon cancelled out with the final touch of the game as substitute Kevin Davey stormed over after winger Rory Williams diffused an awkward swirling bomb on the halfway line.
Rapturous cheers greeted the full time whistle and it was left to skipper Burnham to raise the hollowed Plate presented by SRL Chairman Matt Jeffrey. The victorious team only contained 4 players in their final years of study so the seconds can be sure to expect a more rewarding league campaign in the 2010 season.
The elated Owls (left to right, Jon Aktinson, Leigh Mcmenamin, Ste Moorcroft, Andrew Urquhart, Rob Corner, Rob Andrew, Rishi Sumra, Joe Robinson, Kevin Davey, Tom Burnham, Will Winter. Eddie Duncan, Chris Brown, Rory Williams, Gareth Herbert, James Shepherd, Chris Chatterton)