Who Would Be a Ref ?

With no standing water on the pitch things were looking up for Novos despite their Australian coach choosing to rest Pete Twentyman; not answer his phone to a last minute call from Ben Walker regarding his availability; and tossing a coin to choose between James Bass and Shaun Stewart as to who starts !

Novos got off to a bright start with the forwards rampaging up the field and the backs carrying well in midfield. At times when we showed patience we were going forward with ease. However, like last time we played them - handling errors were frequent and would continue throughout the game.

Close to Hartlepools line we went blind, much to the annoyance of the players on the open. Chris Ward to Jonny Ward for a well finished try. Once the players on the open stopped screaming and jumping up and down it was hugs all round. Novos 5-0.

Nothing comes easy at Novos so we duly allowed Hartlepool back into the game. Targeted throughout Jonny Ward was felled by two knees in the back only for Novos to be penalised for fighting back. The ref continously had his ears bashed from people on and off the field and it could not have been easy for him to ref. A few more penalties and a soft try and we found ourselves down 5-11 Hartlepool.

Second half saw more errors from Novos despite creating numerous overlaps and two on ones. Again, the ref was called into action after a shoulder charge and a trip. During the second half cards flourished ending up in Hartlepool losing a player for the rest of the day for being a clown and acting like a child.

This allowed us to gain the upper hand and avenge our early season loss when the whistle was on the other foot.

Tries followed as we looked for the bonus point win. Rich Harrison and Alex Littlefair crashed over with Bollado adding a conversion. With minutes to go and a penalty twenty metres out we decided we didnt want to get promoted and opted for a kick at goal ! Shaun Stewart kicked the goal. The final whistle signalled one last opportunity for one and all to have a go at the ref before we retired to the bar ! Novos win 20-11.

Thanks go to the ref along with my apologies. Whilst we were certainly not the worst, at times we made it far too easy for him to penalise us.

A pleasing win given that we lost to Hartlepool earlier on in the season. I am sure that they will continue to get good results at home, starting with Redcar next week ! The day got better as news of Redcar's demise at Seaton Carew filtered around the clubhouse !

Novos continue to improve. Our forwards are dominating at scrum time.. yes, you read that correctly ! We look very fit and are generally finishing games full of running. There were some great indvidual performances from Chris Ward, Alex Littlefair and impact of the bench from Shaun Stewart. However, Louis Whitworth was a cut above every other player on the pitch... Ben Who ?

We all hope "Ben Who" has a great time in New Zealand and we hope to see him back in a Novos shirt asap. In my fourteen years in this country he is as good as openside as I have seen at any of the north east clubs. How he has gone under the radar of the county is beyond me. He may however struggle to get into the U14s weight restricted team in New Zealand.

Next for us it is four hard training sessions before we have the cup semi vs Berwick on the 23.02.