NURL 1sts – 46
Liverpool Uni – 4
NURL, proudly sponsored by Accenture, were comfortable winners in their first outing of 2012, putting 46 points past a lowly John Moores side.
Despite being forced in a number of changes ahead of kick-off, by way of exams and injuries, The Owls got their first try within a matter of minutes. Petite second rower Dave Chats cruised over beneath the posts after a break from returning loose forward Micky Ward.
And It was not long before Ward got on the scoreboard, as he showed no signs of rust after his lengthy injury lay-off to record a quick brace of tries. A flukey touchline conversion from Chris Griffiths extended the home side’s advantage.
It was by no means a walkover though, with the visitors completing several attacking sets in the Owls’ half. Luckily, NURL prop Conor Ellison was in fine form, thwarting numerous Moores drives and putting in arguably his finest performance in a (tight) Newcastle shirt.
The home side absorbed the pressure and hit back quickly, stand-off Griffiths stepped his way over for 4 before fan-favourite Ian McPherson scored a breath-taking try, undoubtedly a contender for try of the season.
Next in line for a try was winger Yohan Warts. Zaney skipper Knox bounced the ball to Ward, who collected it and gave a Jeremy Beadle-esque offload to Warts who sped over in the corner.
Moments before the break John Moores did gets points on the board, tripping over in the corner after a number of forward passes.
The score at the break flattered the home side somewhat, with much of the first 40 being played in the Owls’ half.
The second half was a similar story, with the Death Machine racking up a huge number of tackles in their own half. Notable performances came from Gaz Hibbert, who gave NURL a much need solidity from hooker, and Myles Hudson, who bit his way through John Moore’s team.
The game had been a highly competitive encounter up to this point, but, after 60 minutes, both sets of players were united in fits of laughter thanks to NURL’s wobbly wigster Dave Knox. The chatty welshman broke the defensive line and looked sure to score before, suddenly, both his legs gave way and he belly flopped on to the floor about 2 metres from the line. This embarrassment would be too much for some players to handle, but not for Knox, who will learn from this humiliating mistake like he has done so many times in his career.
The icing on the cake came in the final stages as debutant Rory. S. Mart broke through from half-back and touched down beneath the posts. A final conversion from Griffiths extended the score to 46-4.
The Owls can take a lot of confidence from their dominant display, and will be looking for revenge on Saturday against Liverpool, having lost at home earlier in the season to the north-east outfit.