Workington Town v Newcastle Thunder and other League 1 review

Yesterday afternoon saw Newcastle Thunder travel to Workington Town. Graham Steadman got a chance to see this young Thunder group in action for the first time and he will have learnt a lot from this outing.

For those who were at Magic Friday, we knew what to expect from this powerful Workington outfit and the final scoreline of 56-0 shows that. We've seen the statement from the club during the week around the future and that is very much about putting foundations in place for the future of the game in the north east. Those grassroots foundations over time will benefit the highest level of the game in the region.

For now though we have to continue to be patient, the club will look to appoint a Head Coach so that Steadman can move to concentrate on his development remit. The hope will be that Steadman can look to add to this group with some players from York to add where he feels necessary. We have to remember that a lot of this young squad are learning the game and this isn't an easy level to learn the game.

Due to scheduling and Cornwall's withdrawal from League 1, Thunder now don't play until Sunday 13th July when they travel to Swinton Lions. I'm hoping that next season the scheduling is looked at as all teams have big gaps in fixtures and it makes it more difficult to follow.

The victory for Workington yesterday takes them up to second in the league, a position that they'll be delighted to be in. But it is very tight below them and there's still a lot of rugby to be played!

Midlands v Goole

Workington were able to climb the table due to a brilliant away win for Goole at Midlands. A tight game was sealed with a drop goal in the seventy third minute that allowed Goole to edge the match 12-13. As I've previously said, Goole will be pleased with how they've taken to League 1 this season and they're definitely laying foundations for next season. For Midlands, they'll be disappointed to lose a home game and will want to get back to winning ways next time out.

Dewsbury v Whitehaven

Dewsbury were back in the wins yesterday as they beat Whitehaven 28-14, it was a strong second half from the Rams who were trailing 4-14 at half time to come back and take a victory that keeps them in fifth place, well in the hunt for a play-off spot. For Whitehaven, they remain in seventh and now have Goole one point behind them.

Swinton v Keighley

Swinton got a good home win against a Keighley side that had been resurgent in recent games. A 22-10 half time lead was turned into a 30-22 victory which keeps Swinton in fourth place and in the play-off places.