Penrith punish rusty Roosters
62 mins ago | Aidan Edgecomb
In the vital NSWRL VB Premier League match played at Henson Park on Saturday, the Bulldogs scored two converted tries in the last four minutes to snatch victory away from Newtown. The disappointment of the 38-28 loss was partly outweighed by the outstanding success of the Newtown reunion day, with a huge crowd in attendance and a tremendous roll-up of old champions. A feature of the day was the strong representation of members of the Newtown 1954 Grand Final team, and the amazing array of former first grade coaches on show, namely Dick Poole, Jack Gibson, Clarrie Jeffreys, Johnny Raper, Warren Ryan and Brian "Chicka" Moore.
This was very much a game where Newtown's errors were punished to the utmost extent. Any mistakes in tight situations such as poor line defence, foolish penalties and ineffective kicking options were all seized on by the Bulldogs, who like Newtown were fighting for a place in the top eight. The Bulldogs second last try came from a freakish set of circumstances that broke the collective hearts of the big pro-Newtown crowd. The Sydney Airport Jets remain in the finals race, but must win both their remaining games against the Sharks and Manly-Warringah, while relying on the Dogs to lose one of their games.
Bill Najarrin, Tom Gemmell, Phil Leuluai and Chris Williams (playing his 100th game for the club) were Newtown's best forwards, while Ben Cook, Ben Vaeau, David Hall, Andrew Le Breton and Troy Barnes played well in the backs. Cook is in superb form, and has become a type of "Roy of the Rovers" cult figure with the Henson Park faithful.
In the Jim Beam Cup match, Newtown led for most of the match but a late try to Ryde-Eastwood let the Hawks out of jail by 22-20. Up in Group 11, the Parkes Spacemen juniors staged an amazing turn-around to win their elimination semi-final against Forbes by 44-18, after trailing 18-6 at half-time. The young Spacemen now advance to the Preliminary Final next weekend when they will take on Dubbo CYMS.
In VB Premier League action next weekend Newtown travels to Toyota Park this Saturday (August 28) to take on the Sharks at 5.30pm. How ironic that such a critical game is to be fought out between the two clubs who will enter into a strategic partnership for the 2005 season. In the Jim Beam Cup, the Sydney Airport Jets play their final competition match of the year against Woy Woy at Henson Park on Friday evening (August 27) at 7.00pm.