» January 28th 2001
» Town 38 v Castleford Lock Lane 0

This Match marked a return to action for Town after a 2 week enforced absence due to the recent bad weather. Town were still missing the injured trio of Hitro Okesene, Tane Manihera and Steve McGrady, Town were boosted by the unexpected return to the starting line up of Matt Sturm.

Rising young star Craig Rumney was given a starting debut at stand-off and Fata Sini and William Blackburn were highly experienced replacements for Okesene and McGrady.

Town kicked-off and were quickly in amongst the visitors. Carl Sice as usual tackling anything that came his way. Sturm was impressive carrying the ball forward at every opportunity. The other forwards were also doing their share in both attack and defence.

After some strong work from William Blackburn Town opened the scoring after 9 minutes when Fata Sini raced onto well placed pass from Mickey Horner and ploughed through the would be tacklers and over for the try. Jamie Smith easily adding the conversion to open the scoring at 6 - 0 to Town.

After 24 minutes Town extended their lead when Graeme Lewthwaite took the ball inside the Town half and jinked his way past the covering tackler and raced for the line. Lewthwaite rounded the fullback and continued unchallenged to the line where he was able to score under the posts. Jamie Smith converted to extend the Town lead to 12 - 0.

Town were enjoying all the possession and won a scrum after a Town player had been held up over the line. The forwards packed down, but had pulled a masterstroke, Sice had gone to scrum half and Horner had moved to hooker. Sice fed the scrum and collected the ball and with the line beckoning scrambled through the defence to score under the posts. Jamie Smith again accurate with the boot moved the score to 18 -0 in Town's favour.

Lock Lane were under continuous pressure, but Town failed to extend their lead and went into the half time break with an 18 - 0 advantage.

The second half saw the visitors start to create a few chances, but it was Town who scored the next points. Rumney ran the ball on the last tackle, passed to Jamie Nixon who drew the defence and passed to the winger Frazer, who ran inside the first tackler, outside the second and left a third in his wake as he raced on to score in the corner. Jamie Smith failed with the conversion attempt to keep the score at 22 - 0 to Town.

Town were well in control and ran the ball at every opportunity. Town found themselves wide on the last tackle and Leigh Smith came inside with the ball and launched a high bomb. The Town attack raced towards the line and Stuart Hoyles collected the ball and touched down. The referee went to the linesman for confirmation and then ruled out the score for off-side.

The Town defence soaked up everything that Lock Lane could muster. Whenever Town got possession, the forwards would make ground. Man of the match Sice was always at the hub of things, making gaps and probing at every opportunity.

Town continued to make ground and were well inside the visitors half when Horner launched a bomb. Leigh Smith got under the ball and palmed the ball back to Lewthwaite who touched down for his second try of the day. Jamie Smith added the conversion to extend the Town lead to 28 - 0.

Lock Lane kicked off for the restart and Town made big and easy yards in the first 3 drives to bring Town into the opposition half. Quick handling from Town created the gaps. The ball was swung wide and three players executed faultless handling to create a two-man overlap which allowed Stuart Hoyles to go over the line. Jamie Smith missed the conversion attempt to leave the score at 32 - 0 to Town.

The last points of the day went to the debut making Stephen Stoddart, who had come off the bench, when he collected a high bomb from Horner, with great ease and scored under the posts. Stoddart converted to make the final score 38 - 0 to Town.

Teams
Jamie Smith, Neil Frazer, Fata Sini, Leigh Smith, Graeme Lewthwaite, Craig Rumney, Mickey Horner, Lokeni Savelio, Carl Sice, William Blackburn, Matt Sturm, Anthony Samuel, Stuart Hoyles.
Subs: Jamie Nixon, Matthew Tunstall, Stephen Stoddart, Jamie Beaumont