Match Report: Newcastle Thunder v Hunslet RLFC Betfred Championship Round 10

Newcastle Thunder travelled to Hunslet in the latest round of Championship action. Thunder started the brighter of the two sides and scored after five minutes. Will Roberts had set things up nicely with a 40/20 to give Thunder possession. They made best use of it and Cody Hunter threw a lovely pass to find Brad Ward who went over in the left corner. Roberts converted and Thunder led 0-6.

On thirteen minutes Thunder scored their second of the afternoon, again down the left hand side. It started with some powerful play from Andy Djeukessi who fought his way in from the right wing to set up the play. Debutant Jude Ferreira then spotted a gap in the Hunslet defence on the left and went over against his former side. Roberts added the conversion to take Thunder’s lead to 0-12.

Thunder were finding themselves on the wrong side of the referee’s whistle and, as they looked to go wide on the last tackle, Hunslet intercepted but Taylor Pemberton and Brenden Santi did well to work back. However the referee awarded Hunslet a penalty and from the resulting play Harvey Hallas went over to score and Billy Jowitt converted. More Thunder ill-discipline gave Hunslet field position on 24 minutes and they grubbered through for Myles Harrop to score. Jowitt converted and the game was tied at 12-12.

Shortly after, Thunder lost Will Roberts which led to a reshuffle with Taylor Pemberton moving into the halves and Tom Inman coming on at hooker. They also lost John Sagaga to injury in the first half and he didn’t come back on the pitch. At 31 minutes, Thunder conceded another penalty and Jowitt kicked the penalty to take the score to 14-12.

Hunslet had been looking to challenge the Thunder edges through the half and that paid off when they broke and the ball was fed back inside to Jowitt to score. He converted his own try and Hunslet extended their lead to 20-12.

There was still time for one more try as Hunslet kicked- it was charged down and Tom Inman ran in to score. Pemberton converted and the half time score was 20-18.

Hunslet started the second half the better of the two teams and got a deserved try as the impressive Ned McCormack was on the end of a grubber through to score. Jowitt converted and Hunslet extended their lead to 26-18. On 51 minutes, Lee Gaskell went towards the line and looked to have lost the ball forward but Jacob Butterfield continued to play and went over, Jowitt converted and Hunslet led 32-18.

Thunder hadn’t been in the game in the second half and the resulting kick off was kicked dead, followed by further penalties as Thunder’s ill-discipline from the first half continued. Brenden Santi was high-tackled on the hour, giving Thunder a platform to attack. The ball found its way to Andy Djeukessi on the right who finished acrobatically in the corner, Pemberton couldn’t convert but the score was now 32-22.

Thunder were finding their way back into the game and went close when Brad Ward was forced into touch going for the line. Thunder did score on 68 minutes as Jordan Lipp glided through a gap to score from long range. Pemberton added the extras and the score was now 32-28 going into the last ten minutes. Thunder felt momentum was with them. Could they win it? Could Hunslet hold on?

On 75 minutes, Ward doubled his tally for the afternoon with an acrobatic finish in the left corner. Pemberton couldn’t score the difficult conversion but the score was 32-32. Hunslet attempted a drop kick but it went wide. Thunder tried to play in an attempt to win the game but a forward pass gave Hunslet a scrum in the Thunder half. 

In a game of penalties where Thunder were on the wrong side nine-five, it felt like it was going to be decided by a penalty. That was exactly the case as Thunder were deemed offside, the hooter went and Jowitt lined up a kick to win the game for Hunslet. Jowitt had been faultless off the tee all afternoon and he kicked it to secure the victory for a Hunslet side who deserved their 34-32 victory.

Thunder will look back and rue their discipline, they were a bit off today but they will re-group as they take on Batley Bulldogs at home next Sunday at 15:00 in The 1895 Cup.

by Phil World