MATCH REPORT: MIDLANDS HURRICANES 70-16 NEWCASTLE THUNDER
A record-breaking win at The Alex for the Canes.
Whilst the Hurricanes made history on St Patrick's Day by playing their first ever game in the main stadium, Mark Dunning and the team will have been frustrated to not cap the moment off with a win over Rochdale Hornets, as our bogey-team held on to win 38-28 in a closely fought contest. The Hurricanes therefore turned their attentions to recently relegated Newcastle Thunder, a team going through a period of transition but eager to show they will be no pushovers in League 1. Thunder had also kicked off their League 1 campaign on St Patrick's Day, falling to a 48-12 loss to Hunslet RLFC at the South Leeds Stadium.
Three minutes in, the Hurricanes opened the scoring as Danny Barcoe scooted from 10m out and weaved his way through defenders to score left of the sticks (4-0). Hewitt had no issues scoring from close to the posts (6-0). Newcastle struck back about ten minutes later, with newly re-signed Thunder fullback Alex Donaghy passing out left for George Birch to cross over (6-4). Jack Potter was unable to add the extras.
Thunder's fortunes took a turn for the worse as a tip-tackle on Jason Bass saw a Newcastle player sin-binned only a couple of minutes after their try. The Hurricanes took full advantage of the shift in momentum as Ross Oakes was effectively dragged over the try-line for our second of the afternoon (10-4), with Hewitt scoring his second conversion (12-4). Five minutes later, Brad Billsborough scored his first try in Canes colours as he shimmied through the Thunder defence to place the ball down on the line (16-4). His partner in the halves went three from three from the kicking tee (18-4).
Newcastle sprung back into action once back to a full compliment, as they took advantage of a Ross Oakes penalty on the Canes line for offside whilst attempting to intercept a pass to allow Harry Lowery to score under the sticks (18-8) and Jack Potter added an easy conversion (18-10). However, the Canes did not rest on their laurels as Danny Barcoe scooted over once again from dummy half to score our fourth (22-10), which Hewitt duly converted (24-10) to regain a three-score lead. The magic continued a few minutes later as a series of short passes saw Billsborough feed Wilkinson a flat pass that allowed him to cruise through the Thunder line and round Donaghy to score in the right hand corner (28-10). Once again, Hewitt added the extras (30-10).
It was the away side, however, who went into the sheds the final scorers in the first half. Another Ross Oakes penalty for offside, again in an attempted intercept, allowed Oliver Bibby to score early in the set to the frustrations of the home side (30-14), which Jack Potter converted in front of the sticks (30-16). The half-time hooter went a couple of minutes later, with a score fans could have forgiven for being the full-time score after just 40 minutes. At this stage, both teams had everything to play for but it was the Canes that had the benefit of a 14-point lead.
Half-time: Midlands Hurricanes 30 – 16 Newcastle Thunder
The second-half saw the home side take no prisoners. Averaging a point a minute and not conceding a point, it was clear that whatever had been said in the changing rooms had resonated with the Canes.
Roughly eight minutes into the second half, Kieran Moran opened the scoring by bagging himself a rare try - only his second since joining in 2023 - as he collected a Cullimore pass and barged his way over the line despite the efforts of four Thunder defenders (34-16). Hewitt had no trouble converting in front of the sticks (36-16). Just two minutes later, a flat cut-out pass from Tom Wilkinson found Jason Bass who scored acrobatically in the right corner for his second try in as many games (40-16). Despite a more difficult kick, Hewitt had no issues adding the two from out wide (42-16).
Five minutes later, a David Hewitt bomb caused the Thunder defence all sorts of problems and bounced towards the dead-ball line, only for Todd Horner to race over and apply downward pressure to score our eighth of the afternoon (46-16). Hewitt once again added the extras (48-16), who at that point had scored as many points himself (16) as our opponents. Matty Welham added to the scoresheet about seven minutes later, scoring his first try of the season as he fended multiple defenders to force himself over the try-line (52-16), with Hewitt happily adding two points from the right edge (54-16). In doing so, Hewitt broke the record for the most conversions scored by a Hurricanes player in one game (the previous record of 8 being held by Ben Stead from a 64-6 win over West Wales in 2018 and a 14-60 win over Cornwall in 2022).
With the Thunder defence looking noticeably tired, the Canes took full advantage in the final ten minutes. Tom Wilkinson scored his second of the afternoon from short-range in the 70th minute, crashing over some flagging Newcastle players on the right edge (58-16) and Hewitt scored his tenth consecutive conversion shortly thereafter (60-16). Just five minutes later, Danny Barcoe scooted from dummy-half and offloaded to Jon-Luke Kirby who did well to retain possession of the ball and fall over the try-line, sending four Thunder defenders to their knees (64-16). In something of a commentator's curse moment, Hewitt was unable to score an 11th consecutive conversion.
With three minutes to go, the home-side arguably scored their finest try on the day. Some nice hands from left to right saw Matty Welham dummy through the Thunder defence before making a sublime offload mid-fall to Jason Bass, who raced down the right edge before passing in to Tom Wilkinson who gleefully placed the ball down for his hat-trick (68-16) and the club's record amount of point scored in one game (the previous being the aforementioned 64-6 win over West Wales in 2018). Hewitt's good form continued from the kicking tee, taking his contribution on Sunday to 22 points (70-16) and the final hooter sounded a couple of minutes later.
Put quite simply, this was a thoroughly professional performance by the Canes and a great first win for 2024.
MAN OF THE MATCH:
Tom Wilkinson (sponsored by JW Visual)
PENALTY COUNT:
Midlands Hurricanes –
Newcastle Thunder -
Half-time: 30-16
Attendance: 377
Scoring Sequence: 4-0, 6-0, 6-4, 10-4, 12-4, 16-4, 18-4, 18-8, 18-10, 22-10, 24-10, 28-10, 30-10, 30-14, 30-16, 34-16, 36-16, 40-16, 42-16, 46-16, 48-16, 52-16, 54-16, 58-16, 60-16, 64-16, 68-16 and 70-16.