Loughborough 74
Northumbria 0

SIMON PERRY at Towers Pitch Loughborough

The second round of the Gillette Super 6’s saw a buoyant Loughborough take on Northumbria; it was unknown territory for both teams as they had never previously encountered each other.

The game started with a typically swift tempo which provided an even arm wrestle for the first twenty minutes or so. Loughborough were penalised for a number of early errors which meant for the first 10 minutes they seemed to be defending more than attacking.

Lead by captain James Hall, Northumbria set out their stall and with some impressive handling from hooker Will Bate and scrum half Luke Higgins they were perhaps unlucky not to find themselves on the score sheet.

Their inability to convert the early chances cost them dearly as in the 8th minute Chris McNamara latched on to Martin Edwards offload and burst past the Northumbria defence for the opening score.

Loughborough’s tough forwards continued to lay the platform for their backs which resulted in another try scored out wide by impressive centre John Riley.

Loughborough then capitalised on some slack Northumbria defence in the middle when Captain Simon Perry broke free before offloading to Dan Ljazouli who also offloaded to half-back Mark Quinn to score under the posts.

Northumbria were rattled by Loughborough’s spree of tries and despite some strong running from full back Ross Wilkinson, they could do nothing to prevent the home team running in three more tries before half time.

In the second half, Loughborough continued in the same vein as they finished the first as they came out firing scoring three quick tries to kill off any hope of a comeback Northumbria still harboured.

The moment of the match came in the 50th minute when lively hooker James Davies stepped the Northumbria fullback before impressively offloading to Stephen Hall to score under the sticks.

Loughborough then filled their boots as the valiant Northumbria defence wilted in the face of constant pressure and both wingers, Morgan and McNamara, scored impressive hat tricks. Man of the match Chris McNamara was particularly outstanding, scoring three of his four tries from his own half, showing a clean pair of heels to the entire Northumbria team.

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Loughborough

1 Luke Dexter
2 Rhys Morgan
3 John Riley
4 Martin Edwards
5 Chris McNamara
6 Dan Kerr
7 Mark Quinn
8 Ian Keevil
9 James Davies
10 Dan Ljazouli
11 Aidan Pritchard
12 Stephen Hall
13 Simon Perry (c)

Subs (all used)

14 Sam Taylor
15 Neil Hart
16 Tim Thompson-Essex
17 Edward Branch

Tries: Chris McNamara (8), John Riley (20), Mark Quinn (25), Rhys Morgan (34), Stephen Hall (35), Chris McNamara (39), Rhys Morgan (43), Rhys Morgan (47), Stephen Hall (50), Mark Quinn (57), Chris McNamara (58), Dan Kerr (64), Chris McNamara (72), Martin Edwards (78)

Goals: Quinn 9/14

Northumbria

1       Ross Wilkinson
2       Marcus Broad
3       Paul O’Donnell
4       Bobby Gouldstone
5       Chris Todhunter
6       Luke Higgins
7       John Lindley
8       Ian Sherwood
9       Will Bate
10      Gareth Schofield
11      David Cash
12      Matt Lumb
13      James Hall ( c )

Subs (All Used)

14      
15     
16   
17      Jimmy Crossley

Half-time: 32-0

Referee: Gary Owram