Newcastle Thunder picked up a quick double over Workington Town when they won the Championship clash at Blaydon 38-8.
It’s only two weeks since they travelled to the Fibrus Community Stadium in the 1895 Cup and went home on the back of a 28-12 victory.
It was a really windy day in the North East, which made life difficult for both teams but was Newcastle who opened the scoring on six minutes when Jack Smith went over out wide as Town were unable to slide across successfully and defend.
Newcastle then went in again on 13 minutes from loose-forward King Vuniyayawa when Town’s ill-discipline had cost them field position.
The same player went in again when Town were breached far too easily and it was 16-0 to the home side after as many minutes.
Things got worse off soon after when Callum Phillips was taken for a head injury assessment and had to be replaced by Jamie Doran.
The game then ebbed and flowed as Town began to gain a foothold in the game and they had good news when Phillips was able to return.
But it stayed 16-0 until half-time and it was clear Town had to score first on the resumption to get back into the game.
In fact they did get the first points on the board after 51 minutes when Jack Ainley, the former Kells youngster who recently signed pro after a successful trial, got over the line for an unconverted try.
Two minutes later, however, they allowed Newcastle to score again. It followed a penalty and from the resultant set Thunder got in again with Smith claiming his second try.
The game then went away from Town when from a ball steal Cody Hunter raced away to score under the posts and Roberts conversion made it 26-4.
Four minutes later Newcastle scored again when Myles Harrison collected, what looked a rather suspect pass, to go in for the try which Roberts converted.
Then a minute later Roberts took a neat pass from Jordan Lipp to score their final try and his conversion gave him five for the afternoon.
Town did manage a second try on 73 minutes when a great pass from Dom Weir saw Alex Donaghy slide over out wide but in difficult conditions Jake Carter was unable to convert.
Town were nearly over again in the last couple of minutes when a bullet pass from Callum Farrer was unable to be collected by Zarrin Galea.
Bad news at the final hooter as Carter limped off in some discomfort after apparently rolling his ankle.
Town are back in action on Good Friday with the West Cumbrian derby at Whitehaven.
