MATCH REPORT - THUNDER 66 - 22 WORKINGTON

Thunder find their form for comfortable win at Kingston Park

A commanding performance gave Newcastle Thunder a first win in five games and their biggest ever win over Workington Town as the West Cumbrians were put to the sword at Kingston Park on Sunday afternoon. 

Thunder were in complete control for large swathes of this round 16 clash as they put recent tribulations behind them to record their biggest win of the season. 

They started quickly and were a converted try up after just two minutes. Forcing an error from Town as they returned the kick-off, Thunder spun the ball out wide with Isaac Nokes straightening his line to crash over. 

Riley Dean converted to kick off a 100% success rate over the afternoon as Thunder gave an early warning of their intentions for the day before the visitors enjoyed some early forays into the Newcastle half. 

The hosts doubled their lead on 14 minutes as Alex Foster marked his 150^th career game with a try as he provided support to a Nokes break down the right wing and finished off a two-on-one against the last defender. 

Former Thunder-man Joe Brown clawed a try back for the Cumbrians with 18 minutes gone as the Jamaican international latched on to a break through the middle of the park by Carl Forber who went on to convert the score, but Thunder ended the half the stronger, adding three more converted tries. 

Hooker Josh Eaves got the sequence under way with a scoot from dummy half before Sam Halsall bagged the first of a second hat-trick of the season as he finished off a potent move started by a forceful Craig Mullen break. 

Workington gifted Thunder their final score before the break as they played at a loose ball and palmed it back towards their line, with a grateful Brad Day scooping up and diving in. 

The hosts started the second half almost as rapidly as the first and were further in front as two tries in five minutes took them to a 36-point advantage. 

Halsall turned provider for the first as he cut through the defensive line with a mazy run before feeding Riley Dean, with Brad Day grabbing his second after Thunder showed patience to make the most of a searing Jack Johnson break two minutes later. 

Some sloppy errors blotted Thunder’s copybook shortly after and allowed Town to close some of the deficit with a pair of tries in two minutes, as Glenn Riley and Alex Clegg took the chances that some rare field position presented them. 

Newcastle were quickly back on-song though and Mitch Clark kicked off another period of dominance as he used his explosive acceleration to good effect close to the line to cross for his first try for the club. 

Another solo score from Umyla Hanley came as Town backed off in anticipation of a whistle and knock-on call that never came before Halsall was again precise in close quarters on the line for his second of the game. 

Clegg brought Town to 22 points with an acrobatic finish in the corner as quick hands created space, but Thunder had the final word as Halsall gathered a high ball and dove in at the corner on the stroke of full time.  

Newcastle Thunder

1 Craig Mullen, 2 Jack Johnson, 23 Isaac Nokes, 4 Sam Halsall, 41 Umyla Hanley, 31 Riley Dean, 7 Josh Woods, 39 Ollie Roberts, 9 Josh Eaves, 8 Nathan Wilde, 11 Alex Foster, 12 Brad Day, 36 Ellis Robson   

Interchanges

10 Mitch Clark, 21 Lewis Peachey, 14 Connor Bailey, 17 Ukuma Ta’ai        

Tries: Nokes (2) Foster (14) Eaves (24) Halsall (29, 71, 80) Day (34, 45) Dean (43) Clark (61) Hanley (65)

Goals: Dean 11 / 11

Workington Town

1 Oscar Thomas, 5 Alex Young, 3 Joe Brown, 29 Curtis Teare, 2 Alex Clegg, 6 Jamie Doran, 7 Carl Forber, 8 Conor Fitzsimmons, 9 Evan Simons, 21 Jordan Thomson, 27 Malik Steele, 12 Caine Barnes, 26 Connor Davies

Interchanges

16 Matthew Henson, 15 Rhys Clarke, 14 Marcus O’Brien, 38 Glenn Riley

Tries: Brown (19) Riley (51), Clegg (53, 73)

Goals:  Forber 3 / 4