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 – 14
Lancaster – 12
By Jo Robinson
Following on from the previous week’s faultless victory against Bradford, the NURL 2nd were confident of another triumph over little known Lancaster in the Bucs Plate Quarter Finals. This was demonstrated in the opening exchanges with a series of powerful drives from the training shy Aidan Robson, single-handedly taking the Owls deep into Lancaster territory. However, handling errors brought NURL’s advance to an end, a consistent theme that dogged their performance.
NURL 1sts – 40
Northumbria 1sts – 6
Following an unprecedented number of canceled varsity fixtures the responsibility of bearing the University standard was left to NURL in the showcase Stan Calvert match-up.
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NURL 1sts – 36
Liverpool John Moores – 14
With NURL only playing once over the last month, the team went in to this fixture low in fitness but high in confidence. After winning the corresponding away tie with a near identical line-up only tragedy could derail the Death Machine.
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.
NURL 1sts – 20
Leeds Met 2nds – 20
Cochrane Park
Rugby League giants New Zealand and Australia were recently left deadlocked on 20 points after a spectacular opening to the Gillette Four Nations. In a slightly more attritional affair SRL Northern Premier heavyweights Newcastle and Leeds Met shared the spoils with an identical score-line last Wednesday .
The crowds were out in force to watch NURL’s first home outing and numbers were bolstered when the 2nd team’s fixture was cancelled due to Sunderland’s understandable cowardice in taking on Daves Parker, Kernohan, Mathew and Chatterton. The fans were in a joyous, expectant mood and renditions of classic NURL songs ”Sammy Boyd has magic spectacles” and ”Moorcrofts gonna mulch ya” were echoing round the Owl’s Nest as the teams entered the fray.
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John Kingswood
NURL 1sts – 26
John Moores 1sts – 16
The mighty NURL machine was on the road again in their search for Premier North domination. This time their destination was the European capital of grit; Liverpool.
NURL were slow out of the blocks, giving away possession deep in their own half due to offensive handling errors courtesy of Jimmy ‘Doyle’ Phillips. John Moore’s were quick to react crashing over the try line minutes later to put NURL behind.
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NURL 1sts – 26
Leeds University 1sts – 6
The mighty NURL Death Machine relentlessly clicked into gear last Wednesday with an emphatic win away at Leeds.
The University’s most cherished club has had to deal with the departure of a golden generation of players including burly Mikey Bryan, Surly Ed Ainscoe and the ever imperious Liam Gasior but newly appointed skipper Michael Ward has an exiting attack-minded squad at his disposal.
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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.
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NURL 2nds – 58
Northumbria 2nds – 20
By Murray James
A shiver-ridden gust of February bluster buffered the wise and pristine faces of the Owls as they strode out to face the Auld enemy. Hooting through a copyrighted Steven Thompson warm-up, two things were very clear: a) the back pitch at Gateshead Stadium appears to have recently been hired out by Spanish people in order to beat and execute donkeys; b) the opposition were a gargantuan rabble, exclusively made up of slobs, brutes, freaks and puddings.
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