Devil Is In The Detail

Some days what can go wrong, will go wrong and this was one of those occasions. Firstly, we lost two cars on route so seven of our players only had 20 minutes to warm up. Then we had Jez Nash come off after 12 minutes, quickly followed by Jan Safranek three minutes later. This led to Novos moving a forward replacement into midfield and a half time score of 7-31. Despite all of the above issues Novos showed they will not be a soft touch and battled back to secure the four try bonus point. Final score 29-41, meaning we won the second half 22-10 so loads of positives !

After a slow start Novos went behind 0-5 as Darlington were able to get over the gain line a little to easy. We then battled back but missed a kick at goal and Darlington put the pressure on again. More trouble when Alex Littlefair was yellow carded after the ref shouted "not out" and Alex only heard the second part and was duly sent to the sin bin for ten minutes !

Over the next fifteen minutes Novos were asked to defend for long periods. Novos lost Nash and Safranek causing Matthew Kilgore to move from six to twelve. Darlington had some senior pros return from Mowden and they were winning the front foot battle. However, it was two lost lineouts in our own 22m that allowed Darlington to increase the gap to 0-24.

Approaching the half time whistle Novos finally started to pick up the tempo. Denied of possession most of the half, Jonny Ward finally got the ball at his feet and after what seemed like a Raheem Sterling like dribble down the touch line, he won the race to score. Converted by Shaun Stewart, half time score 7-31.

The half time chat allowed us to speak a little more about the tempo required and the fact that the game was very competitive despite the score line. We just needed to make fewer errors and we would benefit from a greater share of the ball.

With those words in our ears the tempo in the second half was much higher. Dan Bollado leading the way with a few quickly taken penalties. Once in Darlington half we kicked the next penalty into the corner. A great catch and drive saw Ben Merrett go in after some great patience was shown by the lads upfront. 12-31 to Darlington.

Darlington had some harsh words under the posts and responded with a great try of their own. Darlington 12-36.

Novos now playing with speed and passion were playing their best rugby of the day. During this spell Jonny Ward went in twice, one a fantastic solo effort converted by Stewart. Darlington 41-24.

With the four try bonus point secured we went in search of an unlikely losing bonus point. Three minutes to go, scrum penalty taken quickly and Novos were away again. This time Stewart was the man on the end of the line to set up a last minute attempt to nick another point. However, the ref blew for full time - Darlington 41 Novos 29.

Thanks to the Jason for taking charge of the game. I thought he was fair to both sides although I think both sets of players would like to have seen more advantage played. All in all a pretty good performance from the man in the middle however.

Thanks to our opponents who I think will be top four this year. They were able to get over the gain line a lot due to their aggressive running and were good at clearing out. Their fly half played well and controlled field position nicely. Apologies that I was unable to get up to the bar to see some old friends as I shot down the motorway on the unwanted hospital run !!

For our lads, a real positive end to overcome the lack of a warm up, two crucial injuries and a yellow card. We won the second half 22-10 against what is a very good side.

We scrummaged well via Tommy Goodman, Pete Twentyman, Luke Menzfeld and Josh Stacey. Behind those lads Jamie Wallace was every where, Alex Littlefair and Jack Spoor but in huge efforts despite their lack of training due to injury. Ben Merret also but in a great all round display.

In the backs Dan Bollado always tried to play at pace, Rich Harrison had another good game. Despite not having trained there, Matt Kilgore looked good in the midfield. In Jonny Ward, Novos perhaps had the best player on the pitch. He scored a hat trick including two outstanding solo tries and stopped two certain tries as well.

So despite the loss, Novos are on the scoreboard with their first four try bonus point. Next week we have Consett at Sutherland Park. Another game against opposition that expect to be in the top four ! Hopefully two good training sessions under our belt this week and we will be confident of correcting those little things that caused us to fall short vs Darlington.