Novocastrians have won three games in a row in November and enter a difficult period with matches against Rovers on the 7th, followed by Westoe on the 14th before finishing the month with the John Elders Memorial game on the 28th vs RGS Old Boys. A challenging fixture - Rovers have been a bogey side for us in my time at the club with only three wins in twelve fixtures. However four of those losses have been by less than five points. It is always one of the games of the season with the last eight fixtures being 31-34, 41-34, 28-27, 24-26, 17-15, 25-29, 21-30, 22-17 - an unbelievable run of tightly contested matches.
1st xv home to Rovers, 1415 kick off, 1245 meet - Andy Hall, Daniel Shuttleworth, Pete Twentyman (captain) Adam MacDonald, Tom Cox, Darren Kelly, George Bambrick, Alex Littlefair, Christian Selkirk, Sam Devey, Shaun Stewart, Jack Hearn, Jez Nash, Eoghan Phillips, Nick Bellamy, Josh Stacey, Louis Matthews and Pat Smith.
Not considered due to injury or unavailability - Luke Menzfeld, Kit Sorenson, Sean Ramsay, Alex Cleminson, Lewis Chater, Rich Harrison, Isaac Robinson, Mike Williams, Sam Bird and Ben Wollerton.
Novos front row remains the same as the hard working trio of Hall, Shuttleworth and Twentyman start once again after a strong outing versus Barnard Castle. In the engine room Adam MacDonald comes into the side after two man of the match performances for our second team. He will add to the energy of an already lively pack including the return of George Bambrick to the starting line up.
Out wide we have a fine balance of know how and youth with Christian Selkirk at nine who is on a two game try scoring streak. Youngsters Sam Devey, Jack Hearn and Eoghan Phillips will look to take on Rovers with ball in hand. The back line is finished off with the inclusion of Nick Bellamy at fifteen after two very good performances in the two's.
Off the bench will be Northumberland Centurion, Josh Stacey who will look to carry hard and dominate scrum time when he enters the fray. Louis Matthews will be making his first team debut after moving from the fours to the ones in the space of two months ! Another talented youngster will be added to the mix when Pat Smith comes on. Pat has joined us from Paviors RFC, following in the footsteps of the very talented Tom Winning.
Special mention to Jez Nash who is playing in his 100th game on Saturday. Jez joined us several seasons ago whilst at uni and enjoyed his time so much at the club he secured a full time job and stayed in the Newcastle area. A talented centre, great fitness levels, strong desire to compete for possession and capable of multiple line breaks in a match. Congratulations Jez and we all look forward to sinking a few beers with you and looking back at some great memories you have created in your time so far at Novocastrians RFC.
Enjoy the game everyone - up the Vos !