The NSW Cup Newcastle Knights earned a 32-16 win over the Newtown Jets at Kurri Kurri Sportsground on Saturday afternoon.
The victory put the Knights' season back on track after last week’s Round 1 loss to the New Zealand Warriors at Hunter Stadium.
The match was new recruit Carlos Tuimavave’s first official game in the red and blue after recovering from an ankle injury sustained at the Auckland Nines tournament.
Fullback Nathan Ross put early points on the board scoring on the left edge in the team’s opening set with Danny Kerr making no mistake with the conversion rewarding the Knights an early lead.
Soon after Danny Kerr sidestepped Newtown’s defence to score beside the posts before adding the extras to his own try.
The first half was dominated by low set completion and plenty of errors with both teams failing to make the most of their time with the ball.
After a number of close calls, Newtown eventually opened the score late in the first half with a try to Kurt Kara.
Jake Mamo then returned fire sprinting 30 metres to score for the Knights just before the half time buzzer.
The Knights went into the break with a valuable 10-point buffer.
A fierce Newtown Jets came out firing from the second half break with half back Murphy Gardner scoring between the posts and converting his own try.
A 60-metre break from Nathan Ross gained valuable ground for the Knights, but a lack of support failed to see the Knights make the most of the opportunity.
The extra momentum seemed to serve the Knights well, as soon after, a skillful offload from Pat Vaivai into the hands of Mamo delivered the winger his second try for the match.
The red and blue enjoyed much of the possession in the second half and came close to pushing their lead out further a number of times, but were thwarted by Newtown’s determined defensive effort.
The Jets surged back when their fullback found an overlap and scored on the left edge. He failed to convert his own try. The score was 20-16 with 12 minutes remaining.
Soon after, Chad Redman scooted from dummy half to score beneath the posts making it an easy kick for Kerr stretching the Knights’ lead to 26-16.
But the Knights weren’t done yet, with Nathan Ross pinpointing a gap to score in the final two minutes of the match.
SUMMARY
Knights: 32 (T: Ross 2, Kerr, Mamo 2, Redman; G: Kerr 4/6)
Newtown:16 (T: Kara, Murphy, Gardner; G: Gardner 2/3)
