Win Full Of Character

After a few cry offs a squad of 18 took on a much improved Rockcliff side. Within the squad there were competitive debuts upfront for Luke Menzfeld, Shaun O'Connell, Iain Dodds and Tommy Goodman, along with Justin Taylor at scrumhalf.

Despite a good warm up Novos were slow to start as Rockcliff found it too easy to get over the gain line. After some carries by their big midfielders an overlap was created and Rockliff went up 0-5.

Novos finally grew into the game and turned over a lot of ball at tackle situations and counter attacked well. With a Rockcliff penalty squeezed in between three Jonny Ward tries all converted by Shaun Stewart, Novos gained ascendancy stretching out to a 21-8 lead.

However, injuries to Taylor and Josh Igoe then a yellow card to Ben Merrett galvanised Rockcliff and the went on they rampage to recover and take the lead 27-21 with ten mins to go.

An injury to a Rockcliff player allowed Novos to discuss the situation and try and regain control of the match. Some great team play led to Sean Ramsey going in under the posts for his first Novos try, converted again by Stewart. Novos up 28-27.

By this stage Novos were using their superior kicking game to relieve pressure and turn the screws on their opponents. Another break and some forward carries led to Rich Harrison ducking into the pocket and slotting a drop goal to make the final score 31-27.

Thanks to Antony for taking charge of a game that was well contested and saw some cracking tries by both sides. We wish our opponents luck in their league campaign. I believe their coach, Jack Lambert has made some real progress with them since I saw them last. They are a lot fitter than last time we played them, like to run with the ball and still have players to come back into their squad.

Our lads were sad to hear the news that Josh Igoe has sustained a serious knee injury early in the game after a collision. Our best wishes go to Josh with his recovery.

Overall, a real test of character for a side that perhaps showed the affects of not having a competitive match last week due to our opponents crying off. However, the spirit was great and the lads stayed calm enough to get across the line.

The new lads showed real promise with Menzfeld and Goodman securing scrum ball and Dodds being a physical presence around the park. In the loose, Jamie Wallace, Merrett and Ramsay turned over ball and were a constant nuisance. In the backs, fine displays came from Dan Bollado, Harrison and Richard Dodd and we welcomed back Jez Nash. Finally, in James Bass and Ward Novos perhaps had pace over Rockcliff and Stewart had a very classy performance.

So we look ahead to an away trip to Darlington for our first league match. A difficult first up opponent but we should take confidence from our last game out against them where we were perhaps the better side.

Squad : O'Connell, Twentyman, Menzfeld, Dodds, Wallace, Ramsey, Merrett, Igoe, Taylor, Harrison, Bass, Dodd, Bollado, Stewart, Ward, Goodman, Littlefair, Nash

Won 31-27
Tries : Ward J (3), Ramsey
Cons : Stewart (4)
DG's : Harrison