Newtown's
manpower reserves were stretched to the limit at Henson Park last Saturday, when
the Jets defeated Cronulla-Sutherland 24-18 in the 26th and final competition
round of the 2010 NSW Cup. Newtown was assured of finishing in at least third
place on the premiership table but needed to win this game if either
Canterbury-Bankstown or Balmain had faltered in their own final competition
matches.
A combination
of injuries and promotions into the Roosters NRL squad had led to several
changes in Newtown's ranks and the Sharks, already assured of a place in the
final eight, were clearly determined to deny the Jets a victory on their annual
club reunion day. Cronulla weathered early pressure from the Jets and scored
first midway through the first half. The Sharks extended their lead to 8-0 at
the 30th minute mark but the Jets responded just prior to half-time through
fullback Steve Naughton after good lead-up work by Tom
Symonds.
Newtown
scored again early in the second half after Symonds and second-rower Jason Wells
had been constructively involved. Front-rower Ray Moujalli scored soon
afterwards with Tu'u Maori's conversion giving the Jets a 16-8 lead. The Sharks
exploited some fragile Newtown defence and narrowed the gap to 16-14. Jets
hooker and former Shark Nick Doig burrowed over from dummy-half with 18 minutes
left to play. The Shire boys took full advantage of a Newtown midfield penalty
and scored in the following set, narrowing the margin to only 22-18 with 12
minutes remaining. The Jets survived several anxious moments and added a penalty
goal for the final scoreline of 24-18.
Newtown's
coach Greg Matterson was less than enthralled with his team's scrappy win, but
he admitted that the much-changed lineup had done just enough to claim the two
points and had come through relatively free of injuries. Matterson anticipated
that there would be several players returning to the Newtown ranks for the
semi-final series.
Tom Symonds,
who had played in the back-row and at five-eighth on Saturday, was Newtown's man
of the match, while Tinirau Arona, James Koloamatangi, Jason Baitieri and Keith
Peters had been the best of the forwards. Fullback Steve Naughton, formerly with
the Canberra Raiders, has had no luck at all with injuries this year but he
turned on a brave and capable display on Saturday.
The
Newtown Jets are at Henson Park for the last time in 2010 next Saturday (11th
September), when they meet Wentworthville in a NSW Cup Qualifying Final kicking
off at 3.00pm.