The Maitland Pickers proved far too strong for South Newcastle in the Denton Engineering Cup Grand Final, after a dominant 38-0 first half.
By Mason Cernoy
It wasn’t an ideal start for Maitland, who produced an error in the opening set of the match. South Newcastle looked sharp early, but after Maitland fielded a 40/20 attempt from Souths captain Ryan Glanville, Brock Lamb steadied the ship by forcing a drop out.
Maitland put their first attacking chance to good use in the eighth minute, when Lamb put Lincoln Smith in a hole, who bumped off a defender and had three others fail to stop his charge to the line for the first try of the match.
After several attacking exchanges, an unsuccessful attempt at a short drop-out from Reeve Howard gifted the Pickers a penalty right in front of the posts, where Lamb would take the scores out to 8-0 in the 21st minute.
It was still a tight contest at this stage but Maitland’s forwards were beginning to win the arm wrestle, with Jayden Butterfield and Alchin looking difficult to stop.
As a result there was some space for William Nieuwenhuise, whose run got Maitland back on the attack. Lamb and Daniel Langbridge combined off the back of it to put Smith through for his second, bringing the score to 14-0 in the 20th minute.
Maitland were on the attack once more off the back of a penalty, when Lamb crossed for a stellar solo try to stretch the scores out to 20-0. Souths winger Jacob Afflick was also sent to the sin bin from this passage of play.
The Langbridges combined for a brilliant try in the 35th minute when Alex broke the line with an electric scoot before finding Daniel on his outside.
Soon after Gary Anderson was involved in two tries before the break. He made a break down the right wing and kicked infield for centre partner Matt Soper-Lawler to cross, before grabbing a Lamb cross kick tapped back infield by James Bradley on the stroke of halftime, taking the score to 38-0.
After finishing the first half in complete control of the game, it wouldn’t be long before Maitland found themselves in attacking territory again when a towering torpedo from O’Donnell proved too much for Jacob Afflick to handle, forcing Howard to take it out to prevent a try.
Lamb put Daniel Langbridge in for his second in the set that followed, taking short then playing out the back to extend their lead to 42 points.
After 20 minutes of back and forth between the two sides, Jarome Haines would finally break the drought for Souths when he stepped off of his right foot to cut through some sliding defence in the 69th minute.
Souths would score another try just five minutes later, when Jhett Butler sidestepped into a gap off a Glanville pass, making the score 42-10.
With two minutes remaining in the contest, Brock Lamb put the cherry on top for Maitland when he threaded a pin-point grubber to find Luke Knight on the wing, making the final score 46-10.
