A bit of a shock result this one, Newcastle unbeaten all season in the North East RLC were undone by circumstances and a charged up Cramlington Rockets. The Rockets charged in to a 10-0 lead inside the first 15 minutes or so, Newcastle didn't really seem to be at the races. The Rockets lead 22-10 at half time, Storm did claw it back to 22 all during the second half, however second half injuries, some indiscipline, poor ball handling and crucially some really poor refereeing decisions for both sides lead to the Rockets being camped on the Storm line with only 3 minutes on the clock, a missed penalty from the Rockets really brought the game alive with 2:30 minutes on the clock. Unfortunately Storm were unable to take advantage of this as the ball was adjudged to have gone out on the full from the kick off. Cramlington broke Storms hearts with less than a minute on the clock after breaking the line to take a Try, the resulting conversion was missed. The Rockets played keep ball from kick off and the jubilation was clear to see from the Cramlington side, Storm have now lost their title as the only unbeaten side in the North East Conference.

As a neutral I can honestly say that the referee was very poor for both sides, but that really shouldn't take anything away from a well organised Cramlington side.

Photographs from today's game will follow in the next few days.

Yeah Alan, that's my bad - Winlaton did indeed win their home clash with Storm and yes Peterlee are still the only unbeaten side in the NERLC.

I agree the referee I thought was extremely poor and did look completely unfit. Though I suspect that he is probably the wrong side of his pension as well, that said I've seen a few shockers (referee wise) over the last 3 or 4 weeks and it seems the referee's the NERLC is getting are older and unfitter referee's.

Photographs from this game are now online HERE.

Apologies for the lateness of getting these online, but I have been working away from home for the last couple of weeks.