Fri 7th - Sun 9th May: The Betfred Championship Match Thread

[JonM]

2 minutes ago, Bleep1673 said:

2 in a minute?

18-4 to Haven now, nice inside ball and a couple of offloads to put Callum Philips in.

[OL14.yeds]

Haven looking after the ball far better than Oldham.

[LittleboroRoughyed]

Really poor performance by Oldham. Forwards not running hard & straight & 3 really poor individual errors leading to tries. Whitehaven doing the basics far better.

[Davo5]

Haven dominant,leading 24-4

[Neutralfan7]

Be a big win for Haven this if they can see it through.

[Davo5]

Philips in for his hatrick 30-4 a big win for Haven especially with their long injury list.

[Moominman]

Now 36-4; Callum Phillips in for his 4th try!

[Davo5]

Oldham 4-36 Haven F-T

A great second half performance from Whitehaven 

[Neutralfan7]

Fantastic win for Haven that! Could be massive come the end of the season! 

[Moominman]

A big, big win for Haven. Most would have put both Oldham and Haven, as two of the teams most likely to be relegated, so any victory in a game such as this reduces the chances of the drop for the victor. 

Hopefully as this win shows Haven can grind out more wins on their travels and not solely rely on picking up points at the Recre.

[JonM]

1 minute ago, Moominman said:

Hopefully as this win shows Haven can grind out more wins on their travels and not solely rely on picking up points at the Recre.

Wasn't too much grinding in the second half - they ran riot. I guess Philips will deservedly get the credit for 4 tries, but I thought Nikau Williams had a cracking game.

[Les Tonks Sidestep]

@John Drake any reason this thread's been un-pinned as most games are still to be played? 

[Moominman]

35 minutes ago, JonM said:

Wasn't too much grinding in the second half - they ran riot. I guess Philips will deservedly get the credit for 4 tries, but I thought Nikau Williams had a cracking game.

I wasn't trying to intimate they ground out a victory today, as it was one of the best Haven away wins of the past few years.

However if they grind out wins at Swindon, Newcastle etc, I will be delighted.

[Bleep1673]

1 hour ago, JonM said:

18-4 to Haven now, nice inside ball and a couple of offloads to put Callum Philips in.

Soft spot 'Haven, about 15 miles west.

[NERugbyDad]

On 07/05/2021 at 10:43, NERugbyDad said:

I said one not good enough. The 2 academy lads, both England academy internationals, have done well and will be good enough but don't have much first team experience, Alex Donaghy had played one Challenge cup game last season and Isaac Noakes made his debuet against Sheffield. 

Plus it's entirely possible that more injuries were picked up against Batley last Sunday.

Thunder had lost a couple more backs to injury, Jack Johnson and isaac noaks, so loan lads straight in to the squad for tomorrow's game against London and probably the starting 13

 

[JonM]

Have London Broncos ever played Newcastle Thunder before?

[matt newsholme]

Bradford beat Swinton 23-22 leading 23-10 and looking comfortable but late Swinton comeback made last 5 minutes interesting. 

[Scubby]

20 hours ago, JonM said:

Have London Broncos ever played Newcastle Thunder before?

The played Gateshead Thunder in 1999 if that counts? 

[THE RED ROOSTER]

Pre-match I know very little about Newcastle Thunder save Bob Beswick , Still they are a place above London and as Bill Parcells said you are what your record says you are.

A game London should win despite no Cory Aston. Will Newcastle kick to Abbas Miski on the Left wing that would be a mistake, and what version of "The Jam Sandwich" will turn up today, Tasty or Stale. As Paul Broadbesnt astutely noted, Jarrod Sammut is a front foot player and so London's pack needs to be able to hold its own. Will they do so ?

[JonM]

5 minutes ago, THE RED ROOSTER said:

Pre-match I know very little about Newcastle Thunder save Bob Beswick , Still they are a place above London and as Bill Parcells said you are what your record says you are.

Five of the Newcastle squad have played superleague at Widnes, others have had at least one SL game for Wigan, Warrington, Wakefield, Huddersfield, Salford, Castleford. There's a couple of players with NRL experience - Matt Wright racked up well over 100 games at Cronulla, Cowboys, Manly. Surprised to see people mentioning them in the relegation frame at the start of the year. 

[Robin Evans]

London really towing early doors....

 

[Scubby]

5 minutes ago, Robin Evans said:

London really towing early doors....

 

Yep 18-6 down now. Was expecting more from London tbh but struggling to contain Newcastle.

[Robin Evans]

6 minutes ago, Scubby said:

Yep 18-6 down now. Was expecting more from London tbh but struggling to contain Newcastle.

London back to 13 and starting to get into the game at last. 12-18

[Scubby]

Getting interesting now 18-18 at London.

[THE RED ROOSTER]

Half-time 18-18 - London beating themselves with a knock on as the hooter sounded summing up the first half. Newcastle getting the first points off a Sammut shocker. Fozard scotting over for a soft equaliser at 6-6. Then London getting a player sin-binned and Newcastle scoring two soft tries off London errors. Curiously once London got back to 13 on the field they dominated the rest of the half with Sammut, having a curates egg of a game, setting up a bomb for the second try. London fumbling and stuimbling along getting posession within the 10 metre line only for Meadows to kick away posession on the second tackle - I almost smashed the computer screen . Miski scoring the levelling try just before the break and London need to get him more involved.

Game there for the taking for whoever plays an error free second half.