National Championship for Northumbria University

A game that saw the reigning champions come into the final as underdogs after getting beat by their opponents, Leeds Beckett, twice in the league this season.

This meant that Northumbria got an away draw in the semi-final of the cup and after Exeter beat Liverpool John Moors, it meant that the lads from the northeast had to do the 350-mile journey to the south coast. Northumbria came away with a 34-14 win justifying the universities decision to fly the squad down there and stay in a hotel for the best preparation possible - this time away was key to the players’ bonding and gelling as a team, balancing work and play.

With Northumbria Rugby League now into their 7^th consecutive BUCS (British Universities and Colleges Sport) final, they would be the only sports team representing the university this year at Big BUCS Wednesday. 

Subsequently, the training sessions were then fully focused on the final with a mix of early mornings and late nights, most notably the last session before the final the coaching staff – head of which are Newcastle Thunder’s Academy coaches Jason Payne and Adam Houston – had all that were involved with the squad sit in a circle and tell each other what being in the final meant to them and what it would mean to win it. This led to some very passionate and emotional responses with there being a mix of players playing their first finals and players knowing it’ll be their last – the lads finishing university were almost in tears exclaiming how much it’d mean to them to win, while the new lads were dying to win it for the ones who were finishing university.

The next morning the Northumbria Rugby League squad, which included Newcastle Thunder first team and reserve players: Alex Donaghy, Jake Lightowler, Tyler Walton, Will Lintin, Nathan Rushworth, Arthur Wildish, Dan White and Evan Lawther – who unluckily missed out due to an injury he sustained for the reserves. The preparation for the game consisted of a team meal the night before and some short video preview during breakfast reiterating the task at hand for the Northumbria boys.

Before the game, there was a lot of chat about Leeds Beckett and how they’d beaten Northumbria convincingly twice during the season, but Jason Payne summed it up great in the changing rooms saying: “everyone thinks they’re going to beat us today, but we know something different”.

The game started with both teams making a few mistakes, penalties and errors. Leeds Beckett looked the most likely to score after getting a couple repeat sets, which were well defended on the Northumbria try line, however a pass a meter out was intercepted by Tyler Walton. This resulted in Dan White breaking the line 30 meters out and setting Alex Donaghy off to run in a 50-metre effort to open the scoring 5 minutes in – 6-0.

The next 20 minutes of play saw both teams happy completing their sets until Beckett gave a penalty away which was converted by Northumbria to make it 8-0. The rest of the half was played in Northumbria territory with an unbelievable show of defensive resilience, defending on their own line and only having a singular good-ball set. This pressure did tell though, after giving away two penalties and a repeat set Beckett found joy wide with a smart move securing the last points of the half.

HT: Northumbria 8 v 4 Leeds Beckett

The second half was much of the same, Northumbria camped on their own line doing anything and everything they could to prevent another Beckett score, but all Leeds could find was repeat set followed by repeat set. With just 15 minutes left, a scrum play saw Leeds hit the front for the first time in the game after a conversion from the touchline was successful - 10-8. With everything in the game seemingly going in the wrong direction for Northumbria, insult added to injury with a sin bin less than 10 minutes from full time. They had to find something to win the game after barely having an attacking set all game and defending for 60+ minutes and now with 12 men. And that they did, a stretching Donaghy kicked the ball dead off a Leeds player earning a tap-20. This was now or never for Northumbria, they quickly turned 20 metres into 90 within 6 tackles and on the last play a grubber kick dribbled through to the try line. There were bodies diving everywhere but Northumbria got the important touch, and the referees awarded the try which was cooly converted to make it 14-10.

Northumbria knew now they had a few minutes left to see the game out, this did not stop Beckett from applying some late pressure but a knock on a metre out from the Northumbria try line gave the north-east team the ball back. The next set was very secure resulting in the ball being kicked into touch and the referee blowing his whistle for the final time.

 FT: Northumbria 14 v 10 Leeds Beckett

The Northumbria bench explode onto the pitch as the players go into pandemonium, resulting in a mass embrace of players, coaches, and the rest of the squad. Leeds Beckett players hit the deck in despair, they threw everything they had at Northumbria, but it wasn’t enough on the day.

Northumbria become champions for the 5^th time in a row, some of the players collecting their 4^th medal during their tenure, and in this game, Alex Donaghy was awarded Player of The Match.

The halfback and vice-captain shared his thoughts once the dust had settled on the game: “It was a great feeling to win the BUCS national championship for the 5^th consecutive year. The boys have been great all year and we have gone through some adversity, did it tough but couldn’t be prouder to win with such a great group”.

The captain of the Northumbria team Jake Lightowler also commented on the game after a dominant display in the middle of the park: “It's a great achievement to win silverware with any club but to be crowned national champions in 5 consecutive years is pretty incredible.

“I’m proud of all the lads’ hard work this year and hope the link between Thunder and the university remains strong in the years to come”.

Although it was Northumbria’s 5^th consecutive BUCS final win, coaches and players alike labelled it the best ever, as the group had been through so much adversity throughout the year. Going into the final as underdogs and overturning a team that had beaten them twice convincingly earlier in the season is an unbelievable effort mentally and physically.

The game will live long in the memory for both teams and the spectators as a top level of rugby was shown on the biggest stage of university rugby league - but it will be Northumbria who get to cherish those memories.

Match Report: Will Todd