Match details
3.00 pm, Sunday, 15 March
Ron Costello Oval
Meet the players
Newtown's NSW Cup team was convincingly beaten by St George-Illawarra's feeder club the Shellharbour Dragons in the opening competition round on Sunday.
The Dragons won by 42-10 after opening up a decisive 22-6 halftime lead in the match played in very warm conditions at the lushly-surfaced Ron Costello Oval, Shellharbour.
The Jets had plenty of possession and territorial advantage in the first half at Shellharbour but lacked the vital edge in craft and guile needed to prise open the Dragons defence, other than through a determined individual effort from stand-in halfback Luke Hume.
Defensive lapses end Jets hope of fightback
With the two teams locked up at 6-all after nearly thirty minutes, the Dragons exploited defensive positional problems on Newtown's flanks and posted three tries in the space of ten minutes, two of which were converted from wide out.
Newtown's poor second-half completion rate put paid to any hopes of a concerted Jets fightback and the Dragons added a further four tries to extend their lead to 42-6.
Former Leeds five-eighth Jordan Tansey scored Newtown's only try in the second half as coach Greg Matterson was left pondering the workload in front of his team for them to become a competitive force in this competition.
Player performances
The Jets were best served by Khalid Deeb, Daniel Green and Tere Glassie in the forwards and by the hardworking Luke Hume in the backs.
Next game
Both the Newtown Jets NSW Cup and SG Ball teams are at Henson Park this coming Saturday (March 21st), with the Roosters Harold Matthews squad getting the full afternoon's program underway when they play the Gold Coast at 12 noon.
Newtown takes on the Gold Coast in the SG Ball Cup at 1.30pm, and in the Jets first competition home game for 2009, Newtown meets the Bulldogs feeder club, Bankstown City, in a Round 2 NSW Cup match at 3.00pm.
Match summary
Newtown Jets 10 [Luke Hume, Jordan Tansey tries; Sonny Tuigamala goal]
Shellharbour Dragons 42 [Neville Costigan 3, Tim Smith 2, Brad Davidson 2, Michael Lett tries;
Matthew Head 5 goals]
Half-Time Dragons led 22-6.
Weather: Fine, sunny, very warm.
Playing surface: Excellent.
Who played
1 | Iwi Hauraki |
? | Sisa Waqa |
3 | Alfred Paea |
4 | Kyle Lodge |
5 | Sonny Tuigamala |
6 | Jordan Tansey |
18 | Luke Hume |
8 | Tere Glassie |
9 | Matt Marshall |
10 | Khalid Deeb |
11 | Matthew Hall |
12 | Daniel Green |
13 | Jimmy Andersen |
Interchange
14 | Scott Jones |
15 | Ryan Millard |
16 | James Koloamatangi |
17 | Stanley Waqa |
Coach: Greg Matterson
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