Match details
3.00 pm, Saturday, 25 June 2011
Henson Park
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Match summary
Newtown Jets 28 [Sam Latu 2, Mark Kheirallah, Phil Graham, Kurt Kara tries; Brett Lane 3, MarkKheirallah goals]
Western Suburbs Magpies 0
Half-time: Jets led 6-0.
Officials: Referee, Shane Charman; Touch judges, Matt Damaso, Jimmy Oliveira.
Weather: Fine, sunny, cool. Playing Surface: Very good.
Saturday's fine weather attracted a big crowd to Henson Park for the NSW Cup double-header.
In the early game, the Cronulla Sharks defeated Manly-Warringah 27-20 after the Sharks had led 20-0. In the main fixture, the Newtown Jets found it tough going in the first half against a determined Western Suburbs team.
The Jets led 6-o at halftime but took control of the game in the second half to pull away to a comfortable 28-0 win.
Lack-lustre first half
Newtown lacked cohesion in the first half and missed several scoring opportunities.
The Jets spent a lot of time in Wests territory with no points dividend, and the score remained at nil-all until the 31st minute before playmaker Brad Takairangi put new signing Sam Latu in at the southern right-hand corner.
Newtown had turned the ball over 3 times in their first 5 sets in what was a rather lacklustre first half performance.
During the halftime break coach Greg Matterson urged his players to draw inspiration from lock Ahmad Ellaz and hooker Kurt Kara who had both turned in top-class first half performances.
Big crowd encourages second half revival
The Jets responded to the support from their big home crowd and tries early in the second half to fullback Mark Kheirallah and Kurt Kara , both converted by halfback Brett Lane, put Newtown in command with an 18-0 lead.
Five-eighth Johnathon Ford had his best game this season and there was much more precision and control in his kicking game.
Newtown gained five repeat sets in the second half through well-directed kicks into Wests' in-goal, forcing a much heavier defensive workload on the Magpies. This fatigue factor no doubt contributed to errors by Wests as they tried to play catch-up football in the last twenty minutes.
Player performances
Newtown's coaching staff nominated young lock forward Ahmad Ellaz as the player of the match. Ellaz has been in great form in recent weeks and is proving to be one of the finds of the NSW Cup season.
Other forwards who stood out in what was a good overall team display were the ever-reliable Tinirau Arona, Kurt Kara and Khalid Deeb. Johnno Ford, Francis Vaiotu and Brad Takairangi were the best of the backs and winger Sam Latu, who had transferred to the Jets from Balmain during the week, scored 2 tries on his debut.
Next game
The Jets now join the rest of the NSW Cup clubs in a general bye this coming weekend, 2-3 July, and then have their own scheduled bye on the following weekend 9-10 July.
Newtown's next NSW Cup match will be away to the Balmain Tigers at Leichhardt Oval on Saturday, 16 July at 3pm. This inner-west local derby will decide the winners of the Trevor Ryan-Neil Pringle Shield for 2011.
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