NURL 1sts – 56
Bangor – 0
NURL faced international opposition on Wednesday when Last-season’s Welsh champions Bangor were welcomed to fortress Cochrane Park. After twice defeating Scotland’s finest in Napier in 08/09 the Newcastle Death Machine was highly confident going in to another home-nations encounter.
With Bangor travelling from the far west of the Britain after a 7 a.m. departure the odds were firmly in favour of the undefeated Newcastle cabal. Still NURL were keen to establish themselves at home after a frustrating draw with Leeds Met and in spite of the absences of Sam Boyd, Mike Bean and Ian McFearson.
The match kicked-off in mildly tempestuous conditions and the home side immediately incurred the thunderous wrath of the official with a flurry of penalties piggy backing the Welshmen into NURL territory. The Owl’s typically stoic defence held out for the initial onslaught and points followed as soon as the backs got ball in hand with Jack Lines Crossing for two early tries.
With Newcastle gaining the ascendancy size and fitness began to tell and from a Bangor restart an unexpected flash of dexterity from usually cumbersome prop Joe Robinson led to the most unlikely of tries.
After collecting the ball on his own in-goal Robinson charged the approaching defensive line and showed a rare flash of agility that he would normally reserve for fare-dodging or a Pie giveaway. The step was unanticipated by both teams and a sole Robinson flew like a Red-breasted Albatross 90m for the score. The try was met with ecstatic celebrations causing Bangor palpable disconsolation.
From that moment on Newcastle settled in to rhythm and comfortably saw out the match. As the points tallied the Bangor resistance became somewhat slapdash with defensive techniques such as the slide tackle and belly slap rearing there ugly heads.
Highlights of the match included a fine Michael Ward hatrick and Robse Greaves impressive kicking ratio of 8 from 10.
With the exception of two John Kingswood’ pumpkin passes Newcastle managed to maintain a discipline in their attacking play, something that may have been aided by a struggling Bangor outfit but none-the-less has been lacking so far in this campaign.
It’s likely the return fixture will be a more laborious affair after a trans-national coach journey but the mighty Owls will still be happy with the surplus points on the scoreboard in this encounter.
NURL 2nds – 12
Northumbria 2nds – 30
Meanwhile at the Medics ground the NURL 2nds went down in a spirited encounter against cross-town rivals Northumbria.
Despite an imperious performance from powerhouse Mike Knox and fine attacking from Nathan Barry the team were unable to defeat their local nemeses.
Northumbria were the more disciplined side with Newcastle struggling to complete sets although Eddie Duncan bagged a brace and debut skipper Dan Acton crossed the whitewash for the ever-improving 2nds.