Sydney Airport
Jets square accounts with the Magpies

The Sydney Airport Jets notched up their fifth home-ground win this season, when they defeated Western Suburbs 42-28 in the VB Premier League match played at Henson Park on Saturday.

This was a strong performance by Newtown right across the paddock, marred only by conceding two converted tries to Wests in the last three minutes of play. These were two valuable points from a real danger game, given that the Magpies "have had the wood" on Newtown in recent seasons.

The Jets led 20-10 at half-time, and grabbed control of the game with three unanswered tries in the space of nine minutes in the second half. Once again Newtown's powerful forward pack was the cornerstone of this win, but it was a much improved performance from the Jets backline. Backrowers Phillip Leuluai and Tommy Gemmell (three tries) and veteran hooker Chris Williams were the standout forwards, while Craig Field, Andrew Le Breton and Ben Cook were the best of Newtown's backs.

The Jim Beam Cup team turned on a very ordinary first half in their away match at Ourimbah, and although they made the second half a better contest, still went down by 46-16. New signing Julian Enoka (ex-Wellington Bartercard Cup) made an impressive debut, while Adam Bennett, Maehe Reheti, Chan Ly and Warren Weiss were others to play well.

The Parkes Spacemen suffered a heart-breaking 22-18 loss in their Group 11 local derby with competition leaders Forbes, played before a huge crowd at Pioneer Oval, Parkes. Forwards Dane Scott and Brucey Po were on loan from Newtown to the Spacemen for this match.

The Sydney Airport Jets travel to North Sydney Oval this Saturday (19 June), when they meet up with the Bears in Premier League at 3.00pm. Newtown has a bye in the Jim Beam Cup competition this weekend