A large crowd at the Berties Oval witnessed the Gloucester Magpies defeat the Hexham Jets during a successful benefit day for Tallulah(Toot) Nixon.
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Riley Collins got Gloucester off to a good start. Trying to imitate a Magpie, he belly flopped in the corner for the first try. Dane Lahey and Mitch Turnball were dominating up the front and were ably supported by their backrowers.
Gloucester crossed again only to be pulled up for a forward pass. The next try came when Kieran Burley came off the bench and immediately scored when the ball was turned back inside near the ruck.
Todd Ritter scored Gloucester’s third try when Hexham lost the ball inside their 20 metres. Scott Wratten converted for the Magpies to lead 16 – 0 at half time.
Hexham and Gloucester went try for try during the second half, both teams scoring four tries each. Simon Hitchcock added to his tally this year by crossing twice. The second try from the deftly executed flick pass from Riley Collins.
The Magpies scored the try of the game after good lead up work by Matt Higgins and Jonathon Cornelius. The ball was swung across the backline with Scott Wratten joining in the fullback. In a diagonal run he picked up Jason Boorer out wide for Gloucester’s sixth try.
Coen Durbridge scored the Magpies last try when he darted from dummy half and found himself in a huge gap. The final score 38 – 24 to the Magpies.
This was not one of Gloucester best performances, both sides were guilty of giving up possession far too often. A lot of Hexham’s breaks came up the middle before they went to their talented right centre.
The Magpies now have a solid front row platform with experiences interchange forwards. The defensive problems in the middle are mostly caused by not slowing the play ball and getting numbers into the tackles. No doubt the high defensive work by Matt Wise was missed this week but the forwards are working extremely hard in attack and defence.
If the Magpies can put together 80 minutes like the first half, they will trouble any side in this competition.
3 points – Riley Collins, 2 points – Alex Jones, 1 point – Dane Lahey, Mitch Turnball. Players player –Mitch Turnball.