Gateshead Thunder 16, Hunslet Hawks 86
Jul 26 2010 by Nick Purewal, The Journal
SHOULD 16 tries not prove enough of an insult, Hunslet Hawks added a petulantly facile element to their powerful victory at Gateshead Stadium yesterday.
However desperate Hunslet winger Waine Pryce is to top the Championship One try-scoring exploits, this was not schoolboy rugby and did not merit his teammates twice passing him the ball over the whitewash to dot down.
Pryce ended the afternoon with a five-try haul, but only warranted a hat-trick – clearly he and his pals do not care too much for decorum, or a fair race to the top-finisher honour.
Thunder boss Chris Hood found himself once again frustrated by his side’s inability to hold a performance together for more than 40minutes.
At the final whistle rugby director Hood cut a disconsolate figure in the dugout, leaving his players to talk out the hefty defeat. As ever picking himself up though, Hood told The Journal he did not care how Hunslet conducted themselves – but he was frustrated his men were not incensed by their opponents’ taunting in-goal area antics.
“I’m not worried about how other sides conduct themselves or what they do or don’t do,” explained Hood, “I’ve got enough to worry about coaching one team, without any notion of coaching two.
“But the same shouldn’t be said of my players, and some of them just weren’t bothered that Hunslet were doing that, and that’s really not good enough.
“They should have been riled up and fired up by having that happen against them, but some of them just let it bounce off. We’re still a 40-minute team, and it’s that inability to keep it together that has seen us working hard to make big changes for next season.”
David Cayton, Richard Chapman, James Houston, Paul March and Charlie Ward ran in Hunslet’s first-half tries, with David March landing four conversions.
Chris Parker was sent to the sin-bin, and only Michael Brown could cross for Thunder, with Ryan Clarke adding the conversion.
Gateshead held their own in that first period, but after the turnaround they collapsed in some style. Leaking 11 tries, Thunder could not sustain their battling initial display.
While first Houston then Tommy Haughey palming off scores to Pryce to bolster his total to five, George Raynor ran in two tries, with Haughey, ex-Thunder man Stuart Kain, Richard Knight and Michael Mark completing the rout.
David March added eight further conversions to compound Thunder’s misery, the home men only able to muster scores from Tom Wilson and Ryan Clarke, with Clarke himself adding one conversion.
