By Jamie Anderson
A rampant Newtown Jets outfit steam rolled the Wyong Roos on Sunday to post a 34-8 win and re-ignited their finals hopes in the process.
A physically dominant Jets pack laid the foundation for what was a morale boosting win, and also one that sees the Bluebags move to within a win and a half of the eighth placed Knights.
Despite largely being outplayed, the Roos were the first team on the board when in the seventh minute, a shift to the right, down the Jets end of the park, gave Grant Nelson time and space and he won the race to the corner.
After a spluttering start to the match, the Jets began to win the arm wrestle and it was only a matter of time until they hit back. And so it was in the 18th minute when Ryan Verlinden charged onto a beautiful short ball from Kane Evans close to the line and he wouldn’t be denied.
During the final ten minutes of the half, with the scoreboard reading 6-4 in favour of the visitors, the match was still very much in the balance, but two late tries to Saulala Houma and Ray Moujalli saw the pendulum swing very much in favour of the visitors.
Trailing 18-4 at the break, the home team needed to be the first side to bother the scorer during the second forty if they were to be any hope of posting their fifth win of the year, but much to the chagrin of the home fans in attendance, this was not to be their day.
Tautau Moga, who continues his comeback from a serious knee injury, was impressive for the Jets on the day, and was rewarded with a try, the first of the second half.
Now with the Roos spirit appearing to be broken, the Jets turned the screws and added a couple of more tries to add insult to injury.
Firstly it was Josh Davis who went over in the same corner as Moga before him followed by Jonathon Reuben who scored the try of the day.
Heath Le’Strange jumped out of dummy half near the halfway mark, poked his nose through and popped a lovely ball to the supporting Reuben who streaked clear on a 30 metre run to score unopposed underneath the black dot.
A late try to Molan for the Roos was nothing more than a consolation with the home side well and truly outplayed on the day.
The likes of Evans, Houma, Casty and Verlinden were all instrumental for the visitors while Reuben showed that he is gradually growing into his role at the back for the Bluebags.
The Roos will be looking to sign a few players over the coming week or two and a halfback will be at the top of Rip Taylor’s shopping list, with the absence of Darren Nichols very noticeable on the day.
Both of these teams are at home in round eleven with the Jets hosting the Cutters on Saturday at 3pm while the Roos will look to bounce back against the Sharks next Sunday at 3pm.
Newtown Jets 34 (J Reuben, J Davis, T Moga, R Verlinden, S Houma, R Moujalli tries; R Martin 5 goals) def. Wyong Roos 8 (B Molan, G Nelson tries) at Morry Breen Oval.
