Novos 7, Horden 32

This was always going to be an incredibly tough fixture against a big Horden side. With the likes of Stacey, Twentyman, Menzfeld, Stowe, Wright, Igoe, Sorenson, Merrett, Fearon, Wallace, Stewart unavailable in the pack and a few missing out wide, Novos did well to put out a registered side. Unfortunately, the 2nd team fixture against Darlington Mowden Park had to be pulled to although the boys to move up into the first team.
So opportunities a plenty as into the side came Andrew Steinberg, Christian Selkirk and Daniel Shuttleworth, Brendan Thomas, Luke Foster made their league debuts.
It was obvious from the first moments that their was a mismatch in size as Horden dominated the set piece battle. Our forwards were putting a huge defensive effort against a very heavy opposition pack. Horden scored two tries from lineouts near our line and then scored a decent try right on the stroke of half time to make it 15-0. We had two opportunities to score in the first half but unfortunately could not convert them into points.
We kept battling in the second half when we could easily have rolled over. The scored three tries whilst we answered back with the last try via Sam Busby, converted by Richard Dodd. Making the final score 32-7, thoroughly deserved victory to Horden.
There were positives for Novos as 2-3 of the forwards tackled their hearts out against larger opponents, in particular Nick Arbuckle, Alex Littlefair and Luke Foster stood out in this regard. In the backs, after some early errors we made a number of line breaks by Jez Nash and Sam Busby, whilst Sam Rowntree got us going forward.
Thank you to Horden for the match. I thought the new set up is a big step forward and doing all the work yourself will have massively helped develop great club spirit. The hospitality was first class and we look forward to your visit to Sutherland Park later in the season.