The nib Newcastle Knights ISP were defeated by the North Sydney Bears 28-10 in a tough match at McDonald Jones Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Bears opened up the scoring with centre Campbell Graham busting through the Knights’ defence on the right side. Halfback Dean Hawkins nailed the conversion from the sideline to bring the Bears up 6-0 over the home team.
It was end-to-end football for the majority of the first half, with neither team maintaining repeat sets or majority possession for the first 20 minutes.
A well-placed grubber sent Connor Tracey over the line just shy of the right goal post with 19 minutes to go in the first half. The try was successfully converted by Hawkins to bring the visitors up 12-0 over the Knights.
With just eight minutes remaining in the first half, the Bears crossed for their third much the same as the second with Graham laying down his double off a grubber through the ruck on the right side. The try was successfully converted by Hawkins to lead the Knights 18-0.
The Bears were on fire with Graham breaking through the Knights' defence for a hat trick with just two minutes to go before half time in the right corner, bringing the away team up 22-0 over the Knights. The conversion was unsuccessful from the right sideline.
The Bears maintained pressure in the second half, forcing the Knights on their own line with back-to-back dropouts in the first ten minutes of the second half.
Adding to their lead, Bears’ Jacob Gagan crossed the line in the left corner in the 49th minute. Hawkins, bringing the Bears up 28-0 over the Knights, successfully converted the try.
With just 27 minutes remaining in the second half, the Knights put their first points on the board with Tom Starling crossing the line to the right of the posts after teammate Hazard broke the opposition line at halfway, sprinting towards the try line and offloading to Starling. Brent Naden missed the conversion and the score remained 28-4.
The Knights were next to score with Jacob Saifiti crossing the line in the Knights' first glimpse of the try line in nearly 20 minutes. Saifiti broke through the defence to the left of the posts to bring the red and blues' points to 8. Jack Cogger converted the try, the final score 28-10.
Match Summary
Knights 10 (T, Starling, Saifiti, G, Naden 0/1, Cogger 1/1)
Bears 28 (T, Graham 3, Tracey, Gagan, G, Hawkins 4/5)
