oxford newcastle - Oxford Rugby League

MATCH DAY JUNE 18th 2017 oxfordrl.com

OXFORD

NEWCASTLE

2pm Kickoff - Tilsley Park

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CONTENTS

OXFORD RL

GET TO KNOW

NEWCASTLE

THE BLUES

2017 FIXTURES

INFO ON NEWCASTLE ALSO INSIDE

Blues Pathways Working

04: 07: 06: 12:

WELCOME OFFICIAL TEAMWEAR COACH’S CORNER 2017 SQUAD

OXFORD RL CONTACTS

RUGBY LEAGUE INSPIRES, SKY TRY - FOUNDATION

CEO Adrian Smith, [email protected]

Chairman Tony Colquitt

Head Coach Tim Rumford, [email protected]

Treasurer Julie Shaw

Assistant Coach Chris Baxter, Garry Dunn

Trustees Stuart James, John Connaugton

Team Manager Steve Jones, [email protected]

General Manager Rugby League Inspires

Commercial & Sponsorship Manager Will Brewer, [email protected] Ryan Cousins, [email protected] Cavaliers Manager Will Brewer, [email protected]

OXFORDRL.COM

@OXFORD_RL

OXFORDRUGBYLEAGUEINSPIRES

WELCOME Hello and welcome to Tilsley Park and especially to Newcastle Thunder who made the long trip down today. I hope all Thunder officials, players and supporters enjoy their day with us.

Well it’s been a disappointing couple of weeks on the park as far as results go and on reflection that disappointment comes from the standards set by our young lads earlier in the season. We must not forget that our boys are just that, “young“ and hence the seasoned, hard professionalism is what they are gaining every time they take the field. Effort and desire is not in question, it’s execution and composure that comes with time.

of those guys could make it to Tilsley, the team would appreciate a bit more noise. I’ve mentioned it before, we have something good and to make it bigger and better, we must grow our following. We can do this together.

Newcastle, under new coach Jason Payne, delivered a convincing thumping last week over Gloucester, so it is very clear his thoughts are getting understood loud and clear and they will be looking to back that performance up with another no doubt. League 1 performance standards have risen again in my opinion. Toronto, Barrow and Whitehaven are teams packed with Super League and Championship quality players and are top of the pile Last week at Skolars it was terrific to see and it’s a tough ask to try and live and the Oxford Cavaliers U15s take on the compete with them. Newcastle are a Skolars U16s, yes John Connaughton’s team that on their day can do just that. boys have to play a year above! They did not win but they held their own Good luck to all the players today and I against a more mature side and the level hope you all enjoy the match and I hope of commitment within the side was very you all have a great time. evident. C’mon you Blues! One of my hopes for this year was to grow the supporter numbers and Adrian it still is! The team have performed well, it’s our best start to a season and even in defeat against the likes of Workington and Toronto, the lads have performed with credit. So to all you loyal Blues out there please spread the word, the Club needs support to grow. We’ve got a terrific social media following and if a few

GUARANTEED TO START EVERY GAME

@Rhino_RL

/rhinorugbyleague

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THE BLUES

GET TO KNOW

THE BLUES

Blues winger Harrison Brough is a new signing this season with a good rugby league background having progressed through the London Broncos academy system. Brough missed the first part of the season but came back with real impact against Hunslet with a brace of tries on his full debut! Brough is sponsored by Hadley Property Group, a privately-owned, residential-led property developer. A highly skilled team specialising in progressive, sustainable approaches to the delivery of much-needed housing in Central and Greater London. A little known fact on Harrison is that he’s a rugby league community coach bringing the game to juniors for neighbouring club Hemel. Brough said “I’ve joined Oxford from the Stags as I know a few of the lads and Chris Baxter the assistant coach who I trust a lot. It’s tough and challenging in the Blues squad but that’s what I wanted. It is competitive but all the lads back one another. The team’s togetherness is a big plus.”

HARRISON BROUGH

HARRISON BROUGH

The sense of pride and achievement in adversity was huge!

Welcome to Tilsley Park for the visit of Newcastle Thunder. The last couple of weeks have seen us come off the wrong end of two contrasting challenges. A couple of weeks back against Whitehaven we were found wanting in key areas, namely physicality and enthusiasm against a tough experienced Whitehaven team. Last week at London Skolars I thought our levels of enthusiasm and our will to “go hard” in attack and defence was superb, however our lacked composure in key areas at crucial times gifted the opposition too much possession on our line. The big challenge for our young side is to be consistent in matching the standards we have set this year. We must aim to be both physically and mentally ready, week in week out.There is great belief amounst the coaching staff and players that we can achieve more this year than the club has ever done, but the boys must consistently play to their potential. Consistency is the key. Today’s challenge is another formidable one. Newcastle are refreshed by the entrance of a new coach in Jason Payne & have shown a positive reaction in recent weeks. They will arrive here full of confidence. I would like to give a mention Jason and to the Newcastle club, as I feel they deserve credit for

giving Jason a shot at the coaching job following the departure of Mick Manitelli. Jason has been at Thunder for a good few years now and has stuck by the club through some very hard times, indeed I shared some pretty dark moments with him during the Gateshead days. Jason has never taken a backward step as a Thunder player and has worked equally as hard off the field, continually promoting the game in the North East. I’d like to wish Jason all the best in his role.......with the exception of today of course!!! Enjoy the game Tim

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Blues Pathways Working In the past few weeks a number of young talented DR players who have pulled on the Oxford shirt, have progressed well in their ambition to reach the pinnacle of our game and this may well have gone unnoticed to folks in our region. Tom Holmes and Kieran Gill at Castleford Tigers along with Max Jowett and Jordan Crowther at Wakefield Trinity, have all taken their opportunity and performed with distinction in Super League this season. 21 year old Holmes played 8 games for the Blues last season and is now regularly in the Tigers 17. Tom said “I‘ve waited patiently for my chance and not played too much Super League so going out to Oxford and

Jordan Crowther

Kieran Gill

Batley helped a lot. It was a challenge at Oxford as the boys were struggling but once I got some game time with the responsibility of trying to control the team and steer the lads around the pitch, my confidence grew.” Holmes added “We got some good wins while I was there and it helped build my fitness and experience as the step change from U19s is quite a large one.” Holmes was a Tigers star at the Magic weekend scoring against Leeds and more recently in the victory over St Helens, as

was Kieran Gill, brother of Blues winger Jordan Gill. Alex Foster has also appeared in the Blues shirt this season from Tigers and has now just signed a two year contract with Castleford. Another is big Will Maher who also finds himself on the fringe of the Tigers first team. This season Max Jowitt and Jordan Crowther from Wakefield Trinity gained good game time to be ready for action when the call comes. Crowther commented “Oxford’s a good place, with good staff and a good team spirit. It helps get match fitness and in return we hope we bring some full time professionalism and habits into the group.” The Blues team is again the youngest

Max Jowett

Tom Holmes

team in League 1 with an average age of 20. Add the home grown players of Morris, Andrade and Igbinedion who have earned full time contracts, we can definitely claim we are a true expansion development team. As a club, player development is key. We have a progressive culture and endeavor to make all players feel part of the club and that’s why all at Oxford are proud to be part of the DR lads’ progression and wish them all the very best for their bright futures.

DH Building Services (Oxford) are a Witney based family owned and operated building firm delivering comprehensive services to residential and commercial clients with reliable, affordable groundwork and construction services.

proud sponsor of Blues forward LIAM O’CALLAGHAN

www.dhbuildingservicesoxford.co.uk

proud sponsor of CLAIR WOOLFORD https://www.physique.co.uk

THE BLUES

2017 SQUAD

to sponsor a player contact: [email protected]

AARON NICHOLSON

ADAM FLINTHAM

ANDY HOGGINS

ANTHONY COX

CALLUM WINDLEY

CASEY CANTERBURY

CHARLIE GREENE

CLARK MCALLISTER

CONNER CLAYTON

CRAIG WRIGHT

CURTIS MACDONALD

DWAINE MCRAE

THE BLUES

2017 SQUAD


HARRISON BROUGH Sponsored by: Hadley Property Group

HARVEY BURNETT

JAKE JOYNT

JESS SHERIFFE

JORDAN GILL

JOSH SCOTT

JORDAN SIDDONS

KANE RILEY

JACK PICKLES

JOSH ATKINSON

LIAM O’CALLAGHAN Sponsored by: DH Building Services

THE BLUES

2017 SQUAD


LUKE EVANS

LUKE GARDINER

MARCUS BROOKER Sponsored by: Gorilla

MARK HAYES

TOMMY NEWBOULD

SCOTT FLEMING

STUART BISCOMB

TOM ALEXANDER

WILL COOKE Sponsored by: T&A

Hadley Property Group is a privatelyowned, residential-led property developer. We specialise in progressive, sustainable approaches to the delivery of much-needed housing in Central and Greater London. Our portfolio covers residentialled mixed use schemes, large-scale regeneration projects and prime, central London developments. Very few developers operate with such breadth in the capital.

proud sponsor of Blues Winger HARRISON BROUGH

NEXT LEAGUE 1

AWAY GAME

RUGBYLEAGUECHAMPIONSHIPS.CO.UK

@RLCHAMPIONSHIPS

NEWCASTLE THUNDER There have been several Tyneside-based Since the formation of Thunder Rugby Ltd., rugby league teams over the years. the club has continued to strengthen both on and off the field. Wallsend RFC flirted with the code in the early years of the Northern Union, a Major sponsors have been attracted to and South Shields team joined at the turn of maintained their relationship with Thunder the century and in 1938, Newcastle moved after seeing the club as one which is building south of the Tyne and played a season of for the future in the right manner. matches at the White City Sports Stadium The club, along with community clubs from but did not rejoin the league after World across the North East, is now producing War Two. Several other teams have come local high-quality players and coaches. and gone in the intervening years.

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ones to Watch Lewis Young

Benn Hardcastle

Full back or half back Lewis Young is an elusive runner that can split defenses open and cause havoc for the opposition. Thunder’s 2016 young player of the season after joining following impressing coaches in training and his performances for Team Northumbria. A former junior at Redhill ARLFC back in his home town of Castleford, Young honed his skills through Castleford Panthers and Featherstone Lions before moving to the North East to study at Northumbria University.

26-year-old Hardcastle is a key figure for Newcastle since returning from York City Knights. He has ability with the ball in hand and from the kicking tee he is consistent which makes him a good points getter for the Thunder.

He has formed a strong half-back partnership with Benn Hardcastle. Lewis is equally adept at fullback or in the halves.

His prolific scoring makes him the club’s all-time record point scorer in 2016, surpassing the previous best mark set by Paul Thorman in just 55 games. Benn is closing in on 100 career appearances with his third consecutive year at Thunder and is a playmaker with good awareness and experience.

TODAY’S TEAMS HOME SQUAD 1. MARCUS BROOKER 2. HARVEY BURNETT 3. CASEY CANTERBURY 4. LUKE EVANS 5. ADAM FLINTHAM 6. LUKE GARDINER 7. CHARLIE GREENE 8. MARK HAYES 9. ANDREW HOGGINS 10. CLARK MCALLISTER 11. JOSH SCOTT

12. CURTIS MACDONALD 13. ANTHONY COX 14. CALLUM WINDLEY 15. HARRISON BROUGH 16. JACK PICKLES 17. JAKE JOYNT 18. DWAINE MCRAE 19. LIAM O’CALLAGHAN 20. STU BISCOMB 21. JORDAN GILL 22. TOM ALEXANDER

23. SCOTT FLEMING 24. WILL COOKE 25. JORDAN SIDDONS 26. AARON NICHOLSON 27. TOMMY NEWBOULD 28. JOSH ATKINSON 29. CONNER CLAYTON 30. K ANE RILEY 31. CRAIG WRIGHT 32. JESS SHERIFFE

9. EVAN SIMONS 10. RHYS CLARKE 11. JACK ALDOUS 12. VINCENT RENNIE 13. AARON TEROI 14. SAM LUCKLEY 15. MIKE WOOD 16. PADDY HARGREAVES

17. TYLER CRAIG 18. CORBYN KILDAY 19. JOSH STOKER 20. LIAM SCOTT 21. DANIEL TURNLAND 22. PETER FOX

NEWCASTLE SQUAD 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8.

LEWIS YOUNG ALI BLAIR DAN PARKER DARRELL OLPHERTS JON BROWN TOM SHAW BENN HARDCASTLE LIAM MCAVOY

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TORONTO WOLFPACK WHITEHAVEN RLFC BARROW RAIDERS YORK CITY KNIGHTS DONCASTER RLFC WORKINGTON TOWN KEIGHLEY COUGARS HUNSLET RLFC NEWCASTLE THUNDER LONDON SKOLARS OXFORD RLFC NORTH WALES CRUSADERS GLOUCESTERSHIRE ALL GOLDS COVENTRY BEARS SOUTH WALES IRONMEN HEMEL STAGS

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10 9 8 7 6 5 5 5 5 4 4 4 4 2 0 0

0 1 1 3 2 5 5 6 5 5 5 6 6 8 10 10

0 0 1 0 2 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0

602 354 406 322 273 319 383 308 246 249 213 226 220 180 130 150

85 160 202 199 250 204 272 242 260 310 281 337 360 402 465 552

20 18 17 14 14 10 10 10 10 9 8 8 8 4 0 0

Updated Wednesday 14th June 2017

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