2nds fall just short

The result leaves Northern the only undefeated side in the league but they left knowing they had been in a real battle. Novos could have and should have won but as they are learning good performances are not enough to get the points needed at this level.

Things started badly, Novos lost winger Jason Mcdermott to a late cry off so were forced to use Rob Campbell in an unfamiliar wing role which is not really a good outlet for his talents – Still he bagged a try and looked dangerous with ball in hand.

The game started poorly for Novos despite a good focussed warm up they were trailing within minutes when slack defending gave Northern’s number 9 an opportunity to score in the corner for 0-5.

Novos though hit back quickly after an electric break from Gus Graham created space and with Sam Dixon and Jordan Robinson in support the ball was recycled to allow Rob Squire to score for Novos and level the scores – Stamper missing the conversion from wide.

Northern scored again when more fairly sloppy tackling allowed their stand off to break through and score again after 15 minutes, to make matters worse Dave Addison was forced off with damaged ribs following an altercation on the floor minutes later and was replaced by Mark Allison.

Novos struck back just before half time when big Rob Campbell smashed over for a converted try to send Novos into the half time break level at 12 – 12.

The 2nd half was a carbon copy of the first and Northern scored 2 unconverted tries early to leave Novos trailing 12 – 22 with 25 minutes to go.

There was a most unfortunate incident when a Northern player was badly injured in a tackle. Sadly it appears he had the full works broken tibula, fractured fibula and dislocated ankle. It goes without saying that Novos wish him all of the best and a speedy recovery, no one likes to see injuries espcially serious ones and we hope he is back and recovered soon.

Richie Mitchell made way for Rory Diggle whose impact was immediate – a stray kick from Northern was fielded by Diggle who beat 2 men and stormed upfield good interplay between forwards and backs created space wide and Stamper released Whitworth who off loaded to Worthington and his pass to Diggle saw him squeeze into the corner – despite Northerns protestations, for a perfectly legitimate try (For information for any Northern players interested.. The long white lines surrounding the pitch indicate the playing area either the ball or the player in possession of the ball need to be out for it be adjudged out of play, the tackler being out of play is not enough) to take Novos to within 5 points.

Northern were clearly rattled and Novos threw everything at them to finish the game, Campbell, Robinson and Fife all going close before a harsh penalty was hammered into touch on full time to give Northern the win and sparked wild cheers and celebrations as if they had won the world cup.

Northern… well they are Northern we know what to expect and they aint going to change are they.. The Novos lads were treated to the pie and beans that Lucy had lovingly prepared for the Northern players as they did their usual trick and got changed and left immediately!

So Northern now will be looking at top spot in the league having won their opening 5 games while Novos nervously look over their shoulders at the bottom, we need to start turning good performances into winning points. Next week Horden away will present another challenge but having played 5 of the 6 top teams already Novos will be confident of picking up some more wins before Xmas in a league where it appears anyone can beat anyone else!