Preliminary final weekend for Thunder
This weekend sees the Betfred Championship preliminary finals take place. Saturday sees Newcastle Thunder host Doncaster in what’s sure to be an intense clash.
The two sides met back on 25th January at Doncaster in the Challenge Cup where Doncaster came out winners 24-22 in an entertaining contest. Due to the fixtures the two teams haven’t met in the regular season but Thunder ended up second and Doncaster fourth.
Doncaster without doubt have one of the strongest squads in the league possessing power across the squad. They’re a serious outfit and have shown this by the way they dismantled Barrow twice during the play-offs including a 56-12 victory last weekend to secure their tie on Tyneside.
Doncaster enjoyed a home victory over Oldham and they did the double over Widnes in the regular season. These types of results will mean that Doncaster will travel with confidence to Tyneside as they look to book a final spot. As with most teams they’ve come unstuck against London.
Doncaster will look to their halfbacks to control the game, Connor Robinson has just broken a world record for the most number of successive goals, Cory Aston alongside him is full of experience. In Muizz Mustapha they have a powerhouse up front, Doncaster will bring physicality and guile. They’re a top Championship club and one that would be looking to build through IMG to become a viable option for Super League.
For Thunder, this is a tight knit group and we saw a committed performance against a stubborn Widnes side who were put away. Whatever happens on Saturday, this squad has brought joy to Tyneside with the free flowing rugby they play.
Graham Steadman should take a lot of credit for the way he’s brought this squad together and the run they’ve been on to win 16 league games in a row. Thunder will look to the likes of Mitch Clark, Ryan Jackson and King Vuniyayawa to set the tone in the physicality stakes which will be crucial for Thunder to get a victory on Saturday.
Will Roberts has been impressive in recent weeks and has been really unlucky to miss out on Championship Young Player of the Year. His attack gets a lot of praise but his defence in recent weeks has been outstanding, often leading the charge and getting stuck in in a terrier like manner. Alongside Jordan Lipp the battle of the half backs is going to be crucial on Saturday.
Graham Steadman’s squad sees two changes this weekend with Jack Brown and Jack Smith back in contention replacing Alfie Horwell and George Birch. It’s good to see Jack Smith back following a nasty looking injury against Midlands. Any Thunder fan would’ve been delighted with a play-off semi final before the season started but now we’re here, a final is in sight but a quality Doncaster side stand in our way.
This is a huge tie for rugby league in the north east, make sure you get down to Blaydon. These lads need all your support behind them!
Newcastle Thunder: 1. Myles Harrison, 2. Andy Djeukessi, 4. Jude Ferreira, 5. Brad Ward, 7. Will Roberts, 8. Bailey Antrobus, 10. Ryan Jackson, 11. Harvey Reynolds, 12. Noah Whittingham, 13. Sam Cook, 17. King Vuniyayawa, 18. Ukuma Ta’ai, Jack Brown, 20. Mitch Clark, 22. John Sagaga, 25. Jack Smith, 26. Kieran Hudson, 27. Jordan Lipp,
Doncaster: 1. Thomas Holmes, 2. Bureta Faraimo, 4. Reece Lyne, 5. Luke Briscoe, 6. Cory Aston, 7. Connor Robinson, 8. Brad Knowles, 9. Greg Burns, 10. Suaia Matagi, 11. Sam Smeaton, 12. Alex Sutcliffe, 13. Loui McConnell, 14. Jacob Jones, 17. Muizz Mustapha, 19. Connor Jones, 20. Isaac Misky, 21. Tyla Hepi, 22. Luis Johnson, 23. James Glover, 24. Watson Boas, 29. Thomas Whitehead.
Referee: J. Vella
Reserve Referee: F. Lincoln
Touch Judge 1: D. Bowmer
Touch Judge 2: W. Turley
Date: Saturday 26th September
Kick off: 17:00
Venue: Blaydon Rugby Club
London Broncos v Oldham
A few weeks ago this would’ve been seen as a certain home win but then Oldham produced an outstanding display to beat London in the latter stages of the regular season. London dispatched Doncaster a couple of weeks ago to get their spot at this stage. For Oldham they secured a tense golden point victory at Widnes to earn another shot at London. London will be favourites to win here and secure a home final but Oldham would love to cause an upset.
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