A second half fight back has come up short for the Newtown Jets who went down by 20-12 to the Wentworthville Magpies in their round nine Intrust Super Premiership match at Ringrose Park on Sunday.
Facing a 14-0 half time deficit the Jets fought back with second half tries to Daniel Mortimer and Sam Tagataese but it wasn’t enough as the Magpies ground out a win, their third in succession as the Newtown side slumped to a sixth loss in nine games this season.
As hard as they would try the Jets couldn’t bring the margin between the teams back to less than eight in the second stanza with the Magpies doing enough to claim a victory that saw them climb to fifth on the ISP ladder.
The Jets slipped to ninth place however on what is a bunched ISP competition table a couple of wins over the coming weeks will see them back in contention for a berth in the top eight.
As for the Wentworthville game, Mortimer put in a strong performance in the losing effort, scoring a try with a clever dummy close to the line and setting up the other Jets four-pointer with a line break and off-load to Tagataese earlier in the second half.
After being named 18th man for the Sharks on Saturday night Tagataese turned out for the Jets, as did Joseph Paulo after Sharks coach Shane Flanagan opted not to use him in the win over the Tigers.
And in some news coming out of the Newtown Jets and the Intrust Super Premiership, both Jordan Drew and Jack Williams have been included in the NSW Residents team to play the ISC Queensland team next weekend.
As with the NRL and NYC competitions, the ISP takes a break for rep round this weekend, with the Jets next in action against the North Sydney Bears on Sunday, May 14. That game will be played at North Sydney Oval, kicking off at 3.00pm.
Wentworthville Magpies 20
J Fogarty, J Folau, B Faraimo tries; J Fogarty 4 goals
def
Newtown Jets 12
Sam Tagatese, Daniel Mortimer tries; Fa’amanu Brown 2 goals
