The first game in the British Police Rugby league teams tour of Australia has caused the coaches Jon Hamer and Mark Robinson a real headache in the selection of the final squad for the Police World Cup. The game was played against a New South Wales Police side at the Concord Oval in Sydney and was a classic tale of two halves. The British Police began strongly completing their early sets and were camped close to the NSW try line. However, the British nerves began to show with some basic errors which the Australians were quick to capitalise upon with their fullback crossing the line wide out. The try was successfully converted to take the score to 6-0. Paul McMillan showed his strength in the air to re-capture the restart but again a series of penalties allowed NSW to march down the field. A fantastic tackle on the try line by Chris Cowling was not enough to stop the Australians going through for their second score. The conversion was missed taking the score to 10-0. Some powerful runs by Mark Elvidge and Paul McMillan complemented by the plentiful tackling of Rasheed Alawiye settled the British side but again the Australians struck back with an unconverted try following a well worked move down the left side, giving the Australians a 14 point unanswered lead. A scrappy period of play followed, with errors from both sides but a skillful kick by Steven Brown allowed Paul McMillan to show his aerial strength to get the first points on the board for the British side. Adam Newton successfully completed the conversion, 14-6. The Australians retaliated swiftly with a score after a missed tackle out wide. The half time whistle came as a relief to the British side who went in at the break 18-6.

The half time talk by Jon Hamer and Mark Robbinson made an influence in the second half after the British side had got over their initial nerves and settled into their flowing style of play. Steven Brown was held up over the line and Richard Whitehouse was just unable to reach a clever kick by Adam Newton, forcing a repeat set. Some aggressive defense by Paul McMillan and Peter Sutcliffe forced yet another repeat set as the mounting pressure finally resulted in a second score as Paul McMillan burst through two tackles to score under the posts converted again by Adam Newton, taking the score 18-12. The British side kept up the pressure completing all their sets with Adam Newton being held up over the line on the fifth tackle. The Australians made a nice break, up the middle, with a clever chip kick which was well gathered by Richard Whitehouse. The British side were reacted immediately and a beautifully timed pass from Daniel Burton found Steven Brown running a nice line to score under the post. Giving a simple conversion for Adam Newton to level the match.

A good period of play by both sides followed. The NSW police made a good break which was chased down by Adam Foggerty. Some nice interplay between Steven Brown and Richard Whitehouse resulted in a penalty for holding down, which Adam Newton duly converted to put the British side into the lead for the first time. The league was extended after man of th match Paul McMillan scored his hat-trick after gathering a cross field kick by Chris Sheffield. The British side began to show their dominance as they kept the pressure up as a mazy run by Adam Newton who found Richard Whitehouse who zigzagged over the line just before the final whistle. Making the final score 32-18.The result reflected the keenly fought contest against a strong NSW police side who struggled in the second half as the British Police found their rhythm and put their game plan into action. The British police side will be looking to continue their momentum when they come up against Papa New Guinea Police in 3 days time.

British Police:

Daniel Atherton, Adam Foggerty, Mark Elvidge, Michael Kearns, Steven Brown, Keiron Maddocks, Daniel Adams, Alan Clark, Stuart Meeks, Christopher Sheffield, Andrew Eastham, Adam Newton, Nicholas Smart, Jamie Brentley, Matthew Dunn, Peter Sutcliffe, Thomas Dyson, Jamie Dixon, Andrew Woodhead, Christopher Cowling, Daniel Burton, Richard Whitehouse, Rasheed Alawiye, Philip Green, Paul McMillan, Colin Haigh.

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