Thunder praise North East Origin

Newcastle Thunder have hailed the city’s inaugural North East Origin match a huge success.

Teams from North of the Tyne and South of the Tyne battled out a 26-26 draw at Kingston Park on Saturday with the respective sides based on the clubs the regions best amateur players first played the sport for.

“With a long winter to come, we decided to arrange North East Origin as a way of getting the whole rugby league community together in what’s normally dead time,” explained Thunder managing director Keith Christie.

“For us as Thunder, it’s vital we are able to keep in touch with all of the clubs and their members throughout the year. With a very good crowd coming along to Kingston Park for the match it certainly did this and the game itself was great to watch.

“There was plenty of excitement around the fixture when we announced it, and that built up to the game. It exceeded a lot of our expectations and now the first one has been held, we’ll be looking to build on the success and make it bigger and better for next year.”