Getting Closer To A Win

After some well attended training sessions Novos went into this match with hopes of causing an upset. However, Rovers managed to score of the first kick off after the received the ball and worked it down field. We perhaps fell of a few early tackles for them to score a converted try and take a 7-0 lead.

Novos as always responded well led by carries from Josh Stacey, Alex Littlefair, Ben Merrett and Stu Wilson. We were able to get a sustained period of pressure which eventually led to a cross field kick from Matthew Kilgore which was swooped on by recent signing Sam Busby from Newcastle Uni. Conversion missed but we were back in the game at 7-5 Rovers.

Rovers backs were young and causing our new back line some problems. They scored two tries which whilst looked good were very soft from a coaching point of view as both of first phase. Rovers extending out to 17-5 by half time. We were actually playing well in parts, especially upfront. However, we were guilty of turning ball over when we shifted wide our kicked when perhaps we should have been more patient. Couldn't fault the effort though and we were hopeful of turning some pressure into points in the 2nd spell.

The second half followed a similar pattern to the first as we showed glimpses of fine play as Busby and Merrett made breaks as well as the usual breaks by Jonny Ward. However, we suffered the usual set back as Ward was yellow carded for a high tackle. Rovers took advantage of this and pushed the lead out to 27-5.

We did get some energy off the bench as Iain Dodds and Luke Menzfeld came on and got us moving forward again with some great carries by Stacey. As Rovers tired we had our best spell of the match going close on several occasions.
Eventually, we did score as Rovers put in a poor kick which was moved well by James Bass out to Ward who beat three defenders to score a fine try. Conversion missed so final score 27-10.

Rovers deserved to win as they made less mistakes than us and scored at crucial times, in the first five mins of both halves. Thank you for Carl Hall for reffing. I have not seen him for a while as he usually refs at a higher level than ours.

Loads of positives again for us but the same old issues to a certain extent. We missed kicks at goal, lost some crucial lineouts and perhaps did not capitalize on our forward play. However, our returning players Shaun Stewart, Jack Spoor got some good game time after recovering from long term injuries. Also, some of the lads who have come up from the seconds showed how much depth we have. Busby for the second game in a row made some fantastic breaks, Wilson carried on numerous occasions and colt player Peter Kay made another senior appearance. In addition to these positive signs Jez Nash and Josh Igoe are back in training and should be up and running before the cup semi comes around on the 14th Feb.

A week off for the first team next week. Well for some of us ! Those players returning from injury will be expected to get their playing numbers up again before we take on Medicals at the end of the month. A massive derby game and a must win in terms of local pride. I can see a win just around the corner if we can get our game management right. So that will be the focus as we have four sessions before that Medicals game.

Let's get down to training lads and make the hard work matter on the pitch.

Finally, despite getting four teams out our only other side to play was the 3's due to other clubs crying off at the last minute. The 3's managed to continue their winning run under the leadership of Ian Pratt. We are so lucky to have him, Ben Melrose and Chris Brown running our other sides. February is a big month for the club as we enter cup matches at all levels so get yourselves to training, be available for selection and see how far we can take this great club of ours.

C'mon Vos !