SOUTH WALES SCORPIONS 16 NEWCASTLE THUNDER 28

By Ian Golden at Virginia Park

 

Newcastle Thunder did just about to enough to beat South Wales Scorpions at Caerphilly in a game that woke up as a contest midway through the second half.

 

Scorpions once again were close to a win but didn’t quite have enough in the tank to get home.

 

Connor Farrer, and most of the Scorpions’ side, thought he’d given the Welsh the lead in the tenth minute, only for the referee to declare the ball just short of the line.

 

It would have been just reward for the home side who had been pulverising the Thunder line for the previous five minutes, winning a couple of penalties for the high tackles, those that were noticed by the match officials, the crowd giving him advise on those facts, as they did for most of the game.

 

Thunder turned defence into attack and a 60 metre run from Lewis Young gave then the lead in the 14^th minute. Ben Hardcastle converted.

 

There could have been a quick second try but for good pick-ups from Christiaan Roets and Jordan Sheridan on the Scorpions’ touchline.

 

Evan Simons thought he’d extended Thunder’s lead but the Welsh defence did well to hold him up over the line in the final tackle of a set, before the same player was sinbinned for a high tackle.

 

But Scorpions couldn’t score from the penalty, not taking advantage of the open spaces, coupled with not being awarded a penalty when it looked like Kyle Scrivens been tripped.

 

Instead, Thunder nabbed their second after Peter Fox ran home from a scrum. Hardcastle’s kick was wide.

 

Simons came back onto the field to cause havoc again and was rewarded early in the second half as he scored a typical dummy half’s try to further increase Thunder’s lead.

 

At last, the Scorpions crossed the line in the 57^th minute. Following a good run from Jamie Murphy, the move was finished in typical style by Connor Farrer. Murphy converted.

 

Straight away, the Scorpions scored a second. From a penalty, Kyle Scrivens released Ian Newbury who had an easy walk in. Murphy converted well and it was game on.

 

But after a fumble in the Scorpions’ backline, Thunder quickly addressed the balance with Derrell Olpherts scoring in the corner and Hardcastle adding the goal.

 

The same player followed that up straight away with a classy run and score to put the game out of Scorpions’ reach. Hardcastle again converted. 28-12 and it was Thunder’s points.

 

Then out of nothing, came a contender for try of the season with the over-confident Olpherts had a long pass intercepted by Newbury, and the Scorpions’ winger ran 60 metres, beating dodging round a good third of the Thunder side on the way. Murphy’s conversion effort was wide.

 

Scorpions didn’t give up and were attacking right up to the end. The final real chance was lost when Murphy’s kick was a little too high for Zak Williams to catch in the corner.

 

SCORPIONS

15 Jordan Sheridan

2 Ian Newbury

3 Kyle Scrivens

22 Christiaan Roets

5 Rhys Gant

27 Courtney Davies

30 Jamie Murphy

26 Jamie I’Anson

9 Connor Farrer

28 Alex Davidson

20 Anthony Symons

25 Sion Jones

13 Chris Vitalini

SUBS (all used)

14 Osian Phillips

10 Izaak Duffy

23 Barrie Phillips

24 Zak Williams

 

Tries: Farrer (57), Newbury (60, 70)

Goals: Murphy 2/3

 

THUNDER

1 Tom Reudiger

2 Zach Clark

3 Derrell Olpherts

4 Dan Parker

5 Peter Fox

6 Lewis Young

7 Benn Hardcastle

8 Vincent Rennie

14 Evan Simons

12 Mikey Wood

11 Harry Aldous

10 Rhys Clarke

13 Sam Luckley

SUBS (all used)

9 Ben Thorburn

15 Corbyn Kilday

16 Jason Payne

17 Gioele Celerino

 

Tries: Young (14), Fox (33), Simons (49), Olpherts (64, 67)

Goals: Hardcastle 4/5

 

Sin-bin: Simons (30, high tackle)

 

Referee: Nick Bennett

Half-time: 0-10

Attendance: 151