Newtown Rugby League Football Club - Established 1908
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Match details3.00 pm, Saturday, 27 March 2010NSW Cup ladder [end of last round] Home Game Raffle Sponsor - Car Care Products The two NSW Cup double-header promotions held at Henson Park in recent weeks have seen some remarkably similar outcomes. Two weeks ago both games ended in one-point winning margins, while on Saturday at Henson both of the NSW Cup fixtures ended in draws. Cronulla-Sutherland and Windsor drew 22-all in the curtain-raiser and in the main game it was honours even between Newtown and Western Suburbs with an 18-all draw. Tightly fought first half but Jets lead at breakWests had the better of most of the first forty minutes in Saturday's first leg of this year's Tom Raudonikis Cup series. The Magpies had scored two unconverted tries to lead 8-0 after twenty minutes, and the Jets appeared to be mired in what was a rather dour brand of football. Newtown's supporters came to life when the Jets' speed machine centre,Kane Linnett, cored two tries late in the first half. Skipper and backrower Jason wells figured strongly in Linnett's first try while fullback Luke Towers and winger Chris Tuatara-Morrison were prominent in the lead-up play for the second, enabling Newtown to lead 12-8 at halftime. Jets take lead but can't close out the gameThe second half was another war of attrition with the Jets conceding another unconverted try to Wests soon after the halftime break. Linnett's pace and crafty angle running made all the difference as he hared in for his third try with just fifteen minutes remaining. Newtown again showed a worrying inability to lock down a win in the game's latter stages, as handling errors and a crucial penalty gave the Magpies the territorial platform to draw level at 18-all three minutes from fulltime. The Jets had sufficient time left to regroup for one failed field goal attempt. Coach's commentsCoach Greg Matterson admitted his concern with the Jets' lack of nous and discipline when most needed in the game's critical final moments. The players had reverted to unimaginative one-man hit-ups in the first half, rather than employing the creative ball play that had brought such good results against North Sydney.
Player performancesNewtown's standout man of the match was centre, Kane Linnett, probably the form player of the early rounds of the NSW Cup competition. Second-rower and captain, Jason Wells, had his best game of the three competition rounds played so far, and he received strong support from Jason Baitieri, Khalid Deeb and Keith Peters. Match summaryNewtown Jets 18 [Kane Linnett 3 tries; Chris Tuatara-Morrison 3 Goals] Western Suburbs Magpies 18 [4 tries; 1 goal] Half-time: Jets led 12-8 Earlier resultsBoth Sydney Roosters junior representative teams went down to the Cronulla Sharks. In the first NSW Cup game, Cronulla and Windsor drew. Next gameThe Newtown Jets face a genuine danger game against the Shellharbour Dragons next Saturday, 3 April, at Henson Park. The Dragons, St George-Illawarra's official feeder team, are in winning form and had an excellent record against the Jets last year. There are junior representative curtain-raisers starting at 12 noon on Saturday, and the Jets-Dragons NSW Cup match gets underway at 3pm. |
Who played?
Interchange
Coach: Greg Matterson |
