NURL 1sts – 32
Leeds 1sts – 0
A dominating victory at Leeds exemplified NURL�s impressive turnaround under the stewardship of pizza hut dwelling trench-coat loiterer Ed Ainscoe.
Despite no warm-up Newcastle immediately looked the stronger side and within four minutes Cumbrian bad boy Michael Ward had got the first try. Winger Dave Furniss was making good yards bashing away like his namesakes husband on the ivories and NURL�s gutsy go-forward was complimented by suffocating line speed in defence. After 20 minutes Rick Davison managed to capitalise on the supremacy with another score after some good work from Ward who was cutting lines like Sweeney Todd at a geometry symposium. The Leeds outfit were ragged and their captain Josh Dangerfield was chief pilot of some low flying aircraft at Weetwood, fortunately NURL’s neck’s were more stout then swan-like and the Loiners skipper was soon left carrot squatting after testing his shoulder on centre Rob Munday.
NURL managed one more try before the interval when whippet Liam McGee gave a deft offload to burly Dan Robertson Who held on to the pig skin long enough to score with his first touch of the game.
The try was duly converted but like Achilles before him NURL kicker and demigod John Thompson�s ankle was on the fritz so Neil Barrett went in at 6 for the second stanza which began much like the first.
Prop Liam Gasior was playing well, swinging his arms like idol Adrian Chiles at a BBC audition and incumbent full back Liam Clarke touched down early on after some slick passing down the line. Leeds struggled to contain Paul Wood who was racing down the line like a turkey on an electric scooter while fellow Dunelnian Davison spread the ball like C minors from the Lurpack trumpeter. NURL�s aggressive defence was epitomised by 2nd year Mikey Bryan who threw his debut successful pass in a sequence of play that led to a trademark two metre flop try from skipper Ainscoe.
Newcastle were playing with a confident swagger and gargantuan loose forward Steve Moorecroft was bossing the languid Leeds frontline with some grotesque hits and smart running, Captain Ahab himself couldn�t have caught the whopper on this day.
As the Yorkshire sun began to set Newcastle managed one last score and this beauty would have even made Chris Blains hair stand on End. Neil Barrett gave his famed inside dummy to no-one before giving an ingenious spatula pass out the tackle for Liam Clark to juggle over the line and collect his second try.
A jubilant Ainscoe devouring a celebratory suckling Pig
The win puts NURL at 5th in the table with a crunch match with John Moores on Wednesday that may decide championship qualification.