CAMPBELL'S HAT TRICK HELPS ZEBRAS MAINTAIN WINNING STREAK

Workington made it 2 wins in a row as they racked up the points to humble bottom club Creighton 71-0 at The Ellis.

However, the score may have been higher as for the 2nd week running a Zebras game was brought to a premature end with this one resulting with an injury to referee Peter Fulton. The match had hardly began when he was bundled to the floor as the Zebras forward Grant Reid attempted to drive forward from a ruck.

The first Workington score was on 4 minutes after a period of defending second row forward Scott Faulkner broke through the initial Creighton defence near his own 22 metre line and when tackled off loaded well to Reid who continued the break before releasing captain Jonny Howarth who touched down. John McCrickerd converted and The Zebras led 7-0.

It was a further ten minutes before the second try and not before the forwards were tested again by the Creighton pack with props Phil Robertson and Martin Harrison prominent with their pick and drive technique. The second try game when Andrew Bowe allowed the backs almost their first touch of the ball which was smartly moved around allowing Andrew McCrickerd to score and watch brother John convert.

On 20 minutes the lead increased further when following a fine drive from the forwards Bowe released Andrew Branthwaite who cut through the opposition defence and when challenged off loaded a good reverse pass to Howarth who touched down under the posts. McCrickerd converting.

Then in the 28th minute the game was over as a contest as Scott Campbell who was having a good supporting almost any run scored three tries in seven minutes. The first was following a drive by the forwards with him being pushed over near the corner. Reid then broke from the
kick off and when tackled the ball was recycled across the backs and again Campbell touched down near the corner. This time McCrickerd nailed the conversion.

Campbell's hat-trick duly followed 5 minutes later when following a flowing move when the team off loaded the ball taking defenders out at the right time enabling him to cross again near the corner.

There was still time before half time to see Andrew McCrickerd run the ball out from his own 22 and hand over to the forwards to allow an easy final run in for Tom Lawson to touch down under the posts An easy conversion followed and at half time Zebras lead by 45-0.

During the interval the referee received treatment following his earlier clash and he did well to continue. Kris McCabe who had come on at half time for the injured Jonny Howarth was first to score touching down in the right hand corner.

With Howarth’s departure the fluidity of the Zebras play seemed to dry up and there was a lot a misunderstanding and wrong decisions being
made. However John McCrickerd found himself with enough space to chip through and win the race to touch down. He duly converted and the lead extended to 57-0

Then on the hour the Zebras won a scum against the head and broke down the blind side and Andrew McCrickerd scored from the half way line run and brother John Duly converted.

Full back Bede O’Connor was next on the score when following play he was able to break the defensive line to score. Another easy conversion by McCrickerd followed and it was now 71-0.

This was in the 65th minute and the referee felt he could no longer continue and duly whistled for time. With the game easily passing the hour mark the game score will stand and no replay will be necessary.

Whilst it was another heavy loss for Creighton the whole side should be congratulated as they never gave up trying and were hitting at mauls as hard at the end as they were at the start.

By John Patterson @ The ESG