KEIGHLEY COUGARS 0 NEWCASTLE THUNDER 74
EMMA KENNEDY, Cougar Park, Sunday

NEWCASTLE blew Keighley away as they eased to their first win at Cougar Park in six years. 

It was painful viewing for the home crowd, with the Cougars torn apart at will. 

The gulf between the sides was evident, with Newcastle eventually scoring at almost a point a minute in the 14-try rout. 

Thunder piled pressure on their opponents from the off, when Will Roberts’ kick-off caused havoc for the Keighley defence, but they recovered well, with Brenden Santi held up over the line against his former club. 

The hosts responded brightly to that early scare, winning a drop-out and then a penalty, but the Newcastle defence held firm and they simply blew the Cougars away thereafter. 

Keighley soaked up the pressure from a drop-out, but were unable to stop Jordan Lipp releasing Brad Ward to score the game’s opening try into the left corner with ten minutes on the clock. 

Thunder’s second came midway through the half after Roberts and Lipp combined in a right-wing break from their own 10-metre line. David Foggin-Johnston did well to track back, but the rest of the Keighley defence were nowhere to be seen as bodies queued up and Jack Smith was given the freedom of the left edge to score. 

Lipp’s neat shift then sent Ward over out wide to double his tally before Ryan Jackson crashed over from close range just minutes after his introduction from the bench, with Myles Harrison converting both. 

The pick of Newcastle’s tries came on the half-hour with a silky move. Taylor Pemberton and Roberts were able to offload in the tackle, with Lipp playing in Smith to score his second. 

Dan Parker looked to give Keighley hope on his 150th appearance for the club with a dart close to the line shortly before half-time, but that was as good as it got for the hosts, who soon fell further behind.

Nobody could lay a hand on Williams as some fancy footwork saw him evade a handful of attempted Keighley tackles, setting the position for Roberts to burst over from close range, Harrison again converting to hand the visitors what seemed an already ominous 32-0 lead at the break. 

The second half continued in the same vein for Newcastle, who needed just three minutes to extend their advantage, as Lipp played in Andy Djeukessi who scored out wide from a scrum on the 10-metre line. 

Bailey Antrobus then added his name to the scoresheet after burrowing over from close range, before Pemberton’s cut-out pass allowed Ward to bring up his hat-trick with a walk-in at the left corner. Harrison converted the former but not the latter. 

Lipp turned from serial provider to scorer with a fine individual run to bring up the half-century for Newcastle with 25 minutes still left to play, before Santi found room to twist over the line against his former club just before the hour, Harrison converting both as the visitors racked up a point a minute. 

And with Keighley visibly tiring, the tries kept coming for Newcastle. 

Another scrum opened the door for Lipp to score his second into the left corner before a strong Ukuma Ta’ai run laid the platform for Djeukessi to again go over out wide. With Harrison substituted, Roberts converted the latter. 

Newcastle wrapped up the scoring with eight minutes remaining when Mitch Clark powered over from close range, Roberts again converting. 

Having been under the cosh for the majority of the game, Keighley did threaten a consolation in the dying minutes, but a knock-on typified their performance as a miserable afternoon finally came to an end. 

GAMESTAR: Jordan Lipp was a thorn in Keighley’s side all afternoon, having a hand in several tries as well as scoring a double himself. 

GAMEBREAKER: Newcastle’s four tries in eleven minutes midway through the opening half firmly shifted momentum in their favour, and they didn’t look back from there. 

MATCHFACTS

COUGARS
1 Connor Sayner
19 David Foggin-Johnston
18 Oliver Whitford
4 Max Clarke
2 Brad Holroyd
35 Will Groves
7 Matty Beharrell
17 Jordan Schofield
14 George Flanagan
10 Jack Teanby
21 Alfie Dean
12 Lachlan Lanskey
13 Aaron Brown
Subs (all used)
8 Dan Parker
9 Oli Burton
11 Lucas Green
26 Nathan Rushworth

THUNDER
27 Jordan Lipp
2 Andy Djeukessi
25 Jack Smith
1 Myles Harrison
5 Brad Ward
31 Nikau Williams
7 Will Roberts
20 Mitch Clark
9 Taylor Pemberton
15 Brenden Santi
8 Bailey Antrobus
12 Noah Whittingham
13 Sam Cook
Subs (all used)
4 Jude Ferreira
10 Ryan Jackson
18 Ukuma Ta’ai
22 John Sagaga

Tries: Ward (10, 24, 52), Smith (20, 31), Jackson (27), Roberts (35), Djeukessi (43, 66), Antrobus (47), Lipp (55, 62), Santi (58), Clark (72)
Goals: Harrison 7/12, Roberts 2/2

SCORING SEQUENCE: 0-4, 0-8, 0-14, 0-20, 0-26, 0-32; 0-36, 0-42, 0-46, 0-52, 0-58, 0-62, 0-68, 0-74

Rugby Leaguer & League Express Men of the Match
Cougars: Connor Sayner; Thunder: Jordan Lipp

Penalty count: 6-8
Half-time: 0-32
Referee: Milo McKelvey