The Newcastle Knights have produced a dominating win over the Port Macquarie Sharks and Wauchope Blues in a trial match played at Wauchope's Lank Bain Oval on Saturday.
The Knights brought a solid squad boosted by the NRL experience of Kade Snowden and Joey Leilua as well as young sparks Jake Mamo and Tyler Randell.
The Newcastle side scored a combined total of 86 points in the match against the two Group 3 sides who were unable to put points on the board.
Tyler Randell was a standout in the halves scoring twice and kicking a number of team's goals.
The crowd was also treated to some Jake Mamo magic when he made a break up the right edge directing a considered pass to Pat Mata’utia who scored.
Mamo went on to fetch a double for himself showing off his trademark speed and line breaking ability.
The Knights enjoyed the majority of possession in the first quarter which led to a barrage of tries from Tyler Randell, Jaelen Feeney, Pat Mata’utia, Sam Mataora, Nathan Ross, James Elias, Joey Leilua and Danny Levi.
The Port Sharks showed promise powering through the middle in the second quarter, but were unable to undermine the Knights tight defense.
The second half of the match saw a fresh Wauchope Blues match up against the red and blue.
It was a shaky start after a Knights' error from the kick off before Jaelen Feeney left the field due to injury.
This time it was Jake Finn’s turn to cross the line after skillful ground work from Jake Mamo.
The Wauchope Blues showed glimmers of opportunity and came close to scoring after enjoying greater possession in the fourth quarter, but were unable to undermine the Knights' overpowering defence.
The Knights continued their roll with Marvin Filipo, James Elias and Tyler Randell contributing to the growing scoreline.
In the end, the Newcastle Knights proved too strong for both gutsy local teams recording an overwhelming 86 unanswered points.
SUMMARY
Knights 54 (T: Randell 2, P Mata’utia 2, Feeney 2, Mataora, Elias, Ross, Leilua, G: Randell 7/9) defeat Port Macquarie Sharks 0.
Knights 32 (T: Knights 32 (T: Mamo 2, Elias, Keenan, Filipo, Randell, Finn, G: Levi 1, Randell 1) defeat the Wauchope Blues 0.
