RL: Panthers book final berth

Jan 14 2009 by Chris Roberts, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

NEWSOME Panthers have reached the Holliday Cup final.

The Pennine League Second Division side booked their place in the annual Easter Monday Lockwood Park showdown after a 34-10 triumph over Division III side Underbank Rangers.

Who the Panthers will meet in the final is still to be decided, with the other last-four clash between St Joseph’s and holders Slaithwaite Saracens postponed due to a frozen Fartown pitch. The new date is Saturday, February 7.

And the continued cold snap also had an impact on the Panthers v Rangers tie, with the fixture moved from the frozen Newsome High School pitch to the club’s junior fields at Hall Bower.

But as the day – and contest – wore on, the conditions began to deteriorate, and both captains decided after an hour to call for full-time to avoid serious injury to the players on a surface which was hardening up by the minute.

By that stage, the Panthers had already secured a matchwinning lead, having dominated the vast majority of the contest.

Underbank started well, coming down the massive Hall Bower hill and soon gained good field position, but Newsome’s defence was as solid as ever and allowed the visitors no chance of breaking through.

And the home side’s pack slowly began to asserted themselves on the game, paving the way for Ben Cuttell to break through and offload for Tom Good to score the opening try.

Newsome continued to maintain the pressure and quickly crossed again with Jack Davis scoring in the corner.

Underbank continued to cause a threat down the slope, but Newsome still looked strong against the elements and, thanks to some slick handling, were able to score another two unconverted tries to make it 18-6 at the interval.

Coming downhill in the second half, Newsome dominated from the kick-off with their forwards making easy yards, and they were able to produce some slick handling for a further three tries, two of which were converted to make it 34-6.

Underbank did grab a second to make it 34-10, but with 20 minutes remaining, the match officials and both captains called a halt proceedings.

Newsome’s win was confirmed with two tries each from Good and Davis, with Tom Guinan, James Wallace and Jason Dodd also crossing and Ross Studholme adding three goals.

For Underbank, James Noble and Steve Berry scored the tries and Noble added a conversion.