Novos Steal Two Points With Last Play

Squad News - a few last minute changes and Carl Parkinson was called into work and Alastair Burgess was summoned to the hospital as Theo Alexander Burgess was born ! So in came Joe Ball to the pack and Ben Wollerton was moved to 15 allowing Shaun Stewart to reminisce out on the wing.
We started the game relatively well trying to play a high tempo game with a strong blustery wind at our back. Early mistakes were a plenty but we gained the first score. A quick tap by Christian Selkirk was fed to the backs, through the hands of Richard Dodd and Jez Nash. With a few metres of space Sam Busby was able to stand up his man and touch down. Novos up 5-0.
Errors and the penalty count were going to be a thorn in our side all day. We gifted Boro three points with a penalty in front of the posts but we responded immediately with our own penalty via Shaun Stewart. Novos up 8-3.
We were lazy around the breakdown and rightly penalised for some offsides. Boro were able to march up the pitch to attack. They scored a soft try from a lineout and then an even softer try from an intercept from a poor pass in our 22m to make it Boro 17, Novos 8 at half time.
We were not playing well as a team making a lot of errors in our link up play and were continually penalised for infringements. Unfortunately, some of this were for things that the players have actually been shown to do. Poor coaching I guess ! However, there were plenty of positives as the lineout won us ball, Martin Fearon was turning over a lot of the ball as first man in to the tackle area and we were able to make line breaks at times.
The second half started with an exchange of penalty's to make it 20-11 in Boro's favour. We were unable to make the most of our breaks due to forcing passes or kicking away possession. Boro scored another gifted try with their second intercept of the game as the game looked beyond us at 27-11 with only 20 mins to go. We were falling foul of the whistle on regular occasions, even to the point where our captain was penalised for politely asking a question.
After some strong carrying by debutant Sam Rowntree (ex Ilkley) we made it into the 22 and were rewarded with a try from Alex Littlefair from a driven lineout. Boro still ahead 27-16. We didn't close the gap for long as we dropped the kick off which eventually led to a fine Boro try to push it out to 34-16 with just 15 mins to go.
It looked like we were going to get nothing out of this game but the whistle suddenly went in our favour. Boro were heavily penalised and received a deserved yellow card on their goal line. Great decision from Littlefair to kick to the corner as we looked to drive in another one. Infringement and the ref awarded a penalty try, converted by Stewart. Boro 34, Novos 23. Surely, we couldn't nick something from the game ! Yes we can as Boro were again carded, somewhat harshly for not being back ten. With a man advantage again Busby raced down the sideline for the bonus point try, conversion added by Stewart to gain us two league points from an impossible position.
A great result for us given it was 34-16 with 15 mins to go. Incredible spirit from the boys to keep going when it looked like we were not going to get anything from the game. Loads of positives despite the errors and penalty count - we secured most of our lineout ball, Martin Fearon was incredible around the park, Sam Rowntree carried brilliantly when he entered the fray, Jez Nash and Sam Busby combined well again out wide and Ben Woolerton had some decent moments on debut.
Thank you to the ref, Mr Tovey. There were several things I thought he got wrong on the day and I was grateful for his explanations after the game over a beer. No issues, complete respect shown by coach and ref and I was pleased he was able to provide a few comments on what we could do better as a team.
Next week we play Rovers in a must win game to get back on track. It wasn't all doom and gloom as we found out that our 2's had smashed Boro's 2's and our 3's had beaten a big Rockcliff side. Thoughts are with Mike Baker from the 3's who has broke his ankle.
See you all at training on Monday.