Jets overcome an 18 points deficit to achieve a memorable victory

There have been some outstanding fightbacks by Newtown teams at Henson Park over the years, but Saturday’s effort against Canterbury-Bankstown would have to rank with the best of them.

In a game that was played in persistent soft rain, Canterbury ran up an 18-0 lead after twenty minutes, with Newtown scoring a try right on half-time to trail 18-6 at the break. The Jets came out and added 22 points in the second half while holding Canterbury scoreless, to record a memorable 28-18 victory and thereby maintaining their unbeaten record so far for the 2025 season.

No doubt the wet conditions deterred many people from attending but those in attendance would have been thrilled by Newtown’s spirited fightback. The fact that Newtown prevented the Bulldogs from adding any points after twenty minutes in the first half is also significant, because Canterbury went desperately close to scoring on at least three more occasions in the first half. Newtown’s defence prevented any further points being scored by the Dogs, when any further points probably would have sealed the result in the Bulldogs’ favour.

The sin-binning of Canterbury’s captain late in the first half could well have provided Newtown with a psychological boost. With less than a minute left in the first half, five-eighth Riley Pollard’s perfectly-flighted grubber kick into the south-west corner was grounded by winger Kristian Dixon to put the Jets on the scoreboard.

With the Bulldogs team captain still in the sin-bin for the beginning of the second half, the momentum of the game moved to the Jets, with centre Michael Gabrael racing over in the north-west corner. Halfback Niwhai Puru converted both of Newtown’s tries from wide out and the Jets were back in business, trailing by 18-12 and clearly more energised and confident than they had been for much of the first half.

The Jets forwards began to dictate terms in the middle third and hooker Jayden Berrell sent the rampaging interchange forward Brad Fearnley crashing over underneath the northern end goal posts. This converted try levelled the scores, but there were still twenty minutes left to play and the result was there for to be seized by either team. That hooker marvel Jayden Berrell was involved again, sending Hohepa Puru over to score underneath a wall of Bulldogs defenders, with the Canterbury players mounting an infuriated protest to referee Jake Sutherland. Brad “Big Red” Fearnley had in fact stolen the ball whereby Berrell could be positioned to send Puru in to score. 

Newtown further increased their lead at the 70th minute mark with the impressive young centre Michael Gabrael claiming his second try, by winning the race to touch down a grubber kick directed into the Bulldogs in-goal zone by Niwhai Puru. 

The Jets defended resolutely in the game’s final minutes as Canterbury sought to bridge the ten-point gap between the two sides. The momentum of this game swung Newtown’s way late in the first half after Canterbury had enjoyed a feast of possession for most of the first forty minutes.

Newtown’s second half dominance and the scoring of four tries to nil in that 40 minutes period had been an outstanding team effort.

Jets coach George Ndaira observed after the game that the Bulldogs came out fired up and clearly had control in the first twenty minutes. The Dogs had about 75% of possession early in the game as they ran up their 18-0 lead.

Newtown’s starting pack had to do a power of tackling and the Jets bench players all made strong contributions when they were called on. It was a great learning experience for young props like Jontay-Junior Betham-Misa and Lachlan Crouch to be in the thick of the action when the Jets rallied and ran down the 18 points deficit. Jayden Berrell, Billy Burns, Brad Fearnley, Jordin Leiu and Hohepa Puru led the way as the Jets clawed back Canterbury’s 18-0 lead and prevented them from scoring any more points.

Newtown’s next match is always one of the toughest on the NSW Cup fixture list – travelling south to take on the Raiders in Canberra. The Jets meet the Canberra Raiders at the Raiders Belconnen Stadium this Saturday, 5th April at 3.00pm.

The Jets and the Raiders had a particularly hard-fought encounter when they last came up against each other in the 2024 Preliminary Final at Leichhardt Oval.

Last Saturday’s match details:

NSWRL Knock-On Effect NSW Cup
Round 4
Saturday, 29th March 2025
Henson Park
Newtown v Canterbury-Bankstown
The kick-off was at 3.00pm.

Weather: Light rain fell throughout most of the match, and the floodlights were turned on at half-time. 20 degrees Celsius.
Playing surface: Excellent. Obviously the light rain caused some handling problems.

Referee: Jake Sutherland.
Touch Judges: Mitch Currie and Tom Cambourn.

Video clips:

NSW Cup highlights of Newtown v Canterbury-Bankstown:
https://www.nswrl.com.au/news/2025/03/29/the-knock-on-effect-nsw-cup-highlights–round-four—jets-v-bulldogs/

Newtown Jets head coach George Ndaira’s post-match comments:
https://www.facebook.com/newtownrlfc/videos/643079515128921

The NSW Cup competition table after 4 rounds:
https://www.nswrl.com.au/ladder/?competition=113&round=4&season=2025

Match Result: –
Newtown 28:
Michael Gabrael 2, Kristian Dixon,

Brad Fearnley, Hohepa Puru tries;
Niwhai Puru 4 conversions

defeated
Canterbury-Bankstown 18:
Luke Smith, Cooper Toy,
Jethro (Ratu) Rinakama tries;
Blake Taaffe 3 conversions.

Half-Time: Canterbury Bulldogs led 18-6.

The teams: –

Newtown:
Fullback: Mawene Hiroti
Wingers: Kristian Dixon, Eli Clark
Centres: Chris Vea’ila, Michael Gabrael
Halves: Riley Pollard, Niwhai Puru
Lock: Hohepa Puru
Second-Rowers: Billy Burns (Captain), Jordin Leiu
Front-Rowers: Lachlan Crouch, Jesse Colquhoun
Hooker: Jayden Berrell
Interchange:
Jontay-Junior Betham-Misa, Brad Fearnley, Josh Cook, Chris Slater-Raptis
Concussion Substitute: Tevita Taumoepenu
Blue Shirt Trainer: Tom Haberecht
Yellow Shirt Trainer: Fletcher Graham
Gold Shirt Trainer: Chris Moubarak
Game Day Doctor: Anna Maria Frangos-Young
Coach: George Ndaira.

Canterbury-Bankstown:
Fullback: Blake Taaffe
Wingers: Jordi Mazzone, Jethro (Ratu) Rinakama
Centres: Cooper Toy, Cassius Tia
Halves: Drew Hutchison (Captain), Joseph O’Neill
Lock: Kurtis Morrin
Second-Rowers: Luke Smith, Louis Grossemy
Front-Rowers: Jack Underhill, Lipoi Hopoi
Hooker: Jake Turpin
Interchange:
Reuben Moyle, Tom Amone, Zyon Maiu’u, Alekolasimi Jones
Concussion Substitute: Fahmy Toilalo
Blue Shirt Trainer: Steve Turner
Yellow Shirt Trainer: Gurpreet Singh
Orange Shirt Trainer: Lachlan Mollica
Coach: Michael Potter.

Match Timeline: –

First half:

Newtown kicked off and were running to the Sydenham Road end.
2nd minute: Luke Smith try.

Converted by Blake Taaffe. Bulldogs 6-0.
7th minute: 40/20 kick by Cassius Tia.
9th minute: Cooper Toy try.
Converted by Blake Taaffe. Bulldogs 12-0.

20h minute: Jethro (Ratu) Rinakama try.
Converted by Blake Taaffe. Bulldogs 18-0.
37th minute: Drew Hutchison (Bulldogs) sin-binned
39th minute: Kristian Dixon try.
Converted by Niwhai Puru. Bulldogs 18-6.
Half-Time: Canterbury-Bankstown 18 versus Newtown 6.

Second half:
45th minute: Michael Gabrael try
Converted by Niwhai Puru. Bulldogs 18-12

Sin bin return: Drew Hutchison back on the field.

57th minute: Brad Fearnley try
Converted by Niwhai Puru. 18-all.

61st minute: Hohepa Puru try.
Converted by Niwhai Puru. Newtown 24-18.
70th minute: Michael Gabrael try.
Not converted. Newtown 28-18.

Full-Time: Newtown 28 defeated Canterbury-Bankstown 18.
Newtown had scored 28 unanswered points after the Bulldogs had opened up an 18-0 lead after 20 minutes.
Newtown scored 22 points to nil in the second half.

Match Statistics:

Newtown player statistics: –
Most tackles: Hohepa Puru – 46
Most metres run: Mawene Hiroti – 164
Most line breaks: Michael Gabrael – 1.

Abbreviations: Newtown (N), Canterbury-Bankstown (CB).

Possession: N 53%, CB 47%
Time in possession: N 25.08, CB 22.30
Completions: N 83% (35/42), CB 76% (29/38)
All runs with the ball: N 175, CB 155
Metres run with the ball: N 1370, CB 1222
Metres post contact: N 507, CB 395
Line breaks: N 4, CB 6
Tackle breaks: N 27, CB 27
Average set distance: N 32.6, CB 32.2
Kick return metres: N 118, CB 92
Average PTB speed: N 3.45s, CB 3.45s
Offloads: N 2, CB 4
Receipts: N 382, CB 356
Total passes: N 211, CB 204
Dummy passes: N 11, CB 6

Kicks: N 16, CB 16
Kicking metres: N 475, CB 599
Forced line dropout: N 1, CB 3

Kick defusal: N 100%, CB 45%
Bombs: N 5, CB 1
Grubbers: N 3, CB 3
Effective tackles: N 89.5, CB 91.2
Tackles made: N 292, CB 330
Missed tackles: N 27, CB 27
Ineffective tackles: N 7, CB 5
Errors: N 7, CB 10
Penalties conceded: N 8, CB 10
Ruck infringements: N 2, CB 4
Inside 10 metres: N 2, CB 0
On report: N 0, CB 2
Sin-Bins: N 0, CB 1

Interchanges: N 7, CB 8

Newtown’s next game details:

NSWRL Knock-On Effect NSW Cup
Round 5
Saturday, 5th April 2025
Raiders Belconnen Stadium (Hardwick Crescent, Holt ACT)

Canberra Raiders v Newtown
Kick-Off: 3.00pm.