Workington Town’s return to the Championship wasn’t rewarded with a celebratory win as they went down 20-6 at home to Newcastle Thunder.
An opening fixture, which at times was feisty, wasn’t bless with good conditions to help the quality of rugby because wind and rain contrived to make life difficult for everyone.
Town certainly had their moments and will rue missed opportunities, particularly in the first half when they had Thunder pushed back for a decent spell.
There had been a fiery start and after only six minutes both sides were temporarily down to 12 men as Jordan Thomson (Haven) and Sam Hallas (Thunder) were sent to the bin after a flare-up in mid-field,
Town had the early pressure, forcing Newcastle to defend deep and to concede goal-line drop outs before the hosts lost the ball as they tried to initiate an opening.
It was cut and thrust for a while but the deadlock wasn’t broken until the 27th minute and the first points of the new season went to a Newcastle player.
A good off-load from Isaac Nokes enabled Newcastle to work an opening for Jack Johnson to score. The conversion was held-up in the wind.
They held the lead for only six minutes before Town skipper Jamie Doran made a clean break and sent Caine Barnes in for the try which Carl Forber converted.
After an error strewn start to the second-half it was Newcastle who settled first and they regained the lead on 52 minutes. They went for a tap penalty near the line and Nathan Wilde went over with Jake Shorrocks converting.
Four minutes later Newcastle scored again when Brad Gallagher cut inside and raced away to score with Shorrocks again converting.
It became a dismal ten minutes for Town as Newcastle scored a third try after 63 minutes when they broke quickly and Alex Foster went over in the corner for an unconverted try.
Those ten minutes decided the contest and although Town battled to the end in driving rain and increasing wind, they couldn’t get back into the contest.
