The Newtown Jets have put together an imposing 80-minute performance, dominating Wentworthville Magpies 54-6 in a one-sided affair at Henson Park on Saturday afternoon.
Hat-tricks to Travis Robinson and Jordan Drew were the highlights of an eventful 80 minutes of football, whilst Matt McIlwrick was impressive out of dummy-half and worked well with halfback Fa’amanu Brown, who had a hand in a host of tries to hand Magpies their second loss under new coach Nathan Cayless.
A lazy penalty in the opening set of the game allowed Newtown to march up the field to gift them an early opportunity to claim first points of the afternoon. Some nice lead-up work lead to centre Jordan Drew reaping the rewards, as he scored in the left hand-corner courtesy of a handy offload from his winger Travis Robinson.
Some more ill-discipline shown by the Magpies allowed Newtown to gain some valuable field position as they attempted to extend their lead early in the contest. Moments later, a quick raid down the short side led to Robinson streaking down the sideline, as he showed great pace to cross for his team's second try of the game. Brown failed to convert from the sideline, the score remaining at 10-0 after 15 minutes.
It didn’t take long for Newtown to claim a further stranglehold on the game, with some razzle-dazzle football on the last tackle saw McIlwrick throw a bullet-like cut-out pass to centre Drew, who raced away from his counterpart to cross in the corner for his second try of the game.
Newtown continued their dominance in the first half, with Kurt Kara breaking away from the field as he ran off a perfect short ball from five eight Josh Cleeland - only to be brought down 25 metres out from the opposition try line. Some further strong carries allowed them to maintain their momentum through the middle of the field as they managed to earn a penalty on the Magpies try line.
Newtown took full advatange of the field position, with Mitch Brown finishing off a perfectly orchestrated backline moment with a sublime cut-out pass to Robinson who crossed for his second try of the afternoon. Brown managed to convert the try, with the lead set at 20-0 with five minutes to go in the first half.
Kurt Capewell barged his way through some flimsy defense late in the first half to cross for Newtown’s fifth try of the afternoon, extending the lead to 26 points in what was a dominating first half from Newtown in a very one-sided affair.
The second half started just like the first half had finished, with another Magpies penalty giving Newtown a generous piggyback deep into their red zone. A smart last tackle option from McIlwrick to go down the short side saw Drew claim his hat-trick, crossing in the corner to extend the lead to 30 just five minutes into the second half.
Another classy backline movement from Newtown saw Travis Robinson claim the second hat-trick of the day, and further adding some salt into the wounds of the Magpies who couldn’t seem to find their groove at all throughout the game.
Wentworthville finally had many opportunities to claim their first points of the afternoon, with some repeat sets on the opposition try-line assuring the fans they could finally crack the Newtown defence. Despite some threatening raids, they just simply couldn’t break through and remained scoreless after 65 minutes.
Brown put in a classy individual effort, regathering his own grubber and crossing under the posts to extend the lead to a massive 42 points as the game made its way to the 70-minute mark.
Moments later, Mitch Brown crossed to the left of the uprights to put in a captains try on the scoresheet and cap off another great performance in the no.1 jersey.
Jaline Graham managed to grab a late try for himself, supporting Brown as he broke through the defence to score to the left of the uprights.
Honeto Tuha finally managed to cross the white line for the Magpies in the 80th minute, but it was to no avail as Newtown ran out 54-6 winners in a scintillating 80-minute performance that stakes their claim as one of the competition heavyweights in 2016.
