It was hard fought, a game decided by a sideline conversion just minutes before the end of the contest, but a win is a win and the Newtown Jets moved to two and two with their 26-24 victory over the Tigers last weekend.
The win was important in the early part of the 2017 season, with the two competition points valuable the Jets as they remain within striking distance of the leading teams.
This week the Jets play a home game, but one away from their traditional heartland of Henson Park and instead at the base of their Intrust Super Premiership partners the Sharks, with the round five match against the Newcastle Knights to be contested at Southern Cross Group Stadium.
In a rare opportunity to see the three teams go around on the same day at the same venue, the ISP clash between the Jets and Knights sandwiched in between the NYC and NRL matches. It is scheduled for a 12.40pm kick off at Southern Cross Group Stadium.
The Jets sit in seventh place, the Knights 10th, heading into the match.
See the Newtown Jets team list
ISP Team List – Round 5
Newtown Jets v Newcastle Knights
Saturday, April 1
Southern Cross Group Stadium
Kick-off – 12.40pm
1 Luke Towers
2 Matt Evans
3 Jordan Drew
4 Jesse Ramien
5 Leigh Higgins
6 Penani Manumalaelii
7 Fa'amanu Brown
8 Kurt Dillon
9 Manaia Cherrington
10 Sam Tagataese
11 Tony Williams
12 Jayden Walker
13 Jack Williams
Interchange
14 Jaimin Jolliffe
15 Kurt Kara
17 Saulala Houma
21 Kenny Niko
See below a brief match report on the Jets last start win over the Wests Tigers, as supplied by Newtown Jets media
Jets win a thriller with late converted try.
A conversion from the sideline five minutes from fulltime gave Newtown a 26-24 win against Wests Tigers at Campbelltown Stadium on Saturday afternoon. Wests Tigers led 18-10 at halftime and 24-20 late in the second half in a game where the lead changed hands several times.
As Jets coach Greg Matterson observed after the game, “there’s still a lot of improvement needed in this Newtown side, but we won’t be too shy to take the competition points on offer!” Both teams needed to win to re-ignite their seasons and they turned on an thrilling spectacle. There had been a certain amount of drama within the Wests Tigers club in the preceding week, and it was thought that this might provide added incentive for the home team.
Newtown edged ahead of Wests Tigers 20-18 midway through the second half, but the Jets looked to be in real trouble when the Tigers regained the lead 24-20 with less than fifteen minutes remaining. Newtown’s Samoan international five-eighth Penani Manumalealii laid on a superb cut-out pass for winger James Tuitahi to score in the northern right-hand corner, and halfback Fa’amanu Brown coolly landed the conversion from wide out to get the Jets home.
Coach Matterson said there was a lot of improvement needed by the Jets in defence and onfield-discipline but he was pleased with the team’s inventiveness in attack. Kurt Dillon, Tony Williams and Jaimin Jolliffe were the best of the forwards on Saturday, while Manumalealii and Brown had stood out in the backs.
The Newtown Jets take on Newcastle Knights next Saturday, 1st April, at the Southern Cross Group Stadium at 12.40pm. This fifth round Intrust Super Premiership match will be televised live on Fox Sports.
