Match Report

Week 7 of the season was a break from the Candy League 2 for the Novos 2’s, but luckily we were able to arrange a fixture away again Ryton 2’s.

Novo’s were fielding an excellent looking side, and after a solid warm up in favourable conditions were looking to start strongly, and managed to do just that with an early try from Euan Binmore who showed great strength after a good attacking backs move, with Ollie Eaves adding with a successful drop-kick conversion. The rest of the first half was hard-fought, and despite some thumping tackles from Josh Floyd and Ollie Baines, and solid play from the Novos front five, Ryton showing just how powerful they were by picking up two converted tries and a penalty with some very strong running. Luke Toulmin was replaced by Christian Selkirk after struggling with a back injury, who immediately made an impact with good quick ball for Eaves to distribute, although Novos were unable to pick up any more points in the first half which ended 17-7.

The second half began in much the same way as the first half, with Novos continuing to battle and put their bodies on the line in defence, but with Ryton proving just too strong and picking up another converted try as their number eight battered through to make it 24-7. Novos however refused to give up, and as Ryton began to show signs of tiring, Ben Forbes showed once again why he is turning heads already this season, with great pace and after shrugging off two tackles ran in a try to bring Novos back into the game, and with Eaves’ conversion make it 24-14. As both packs continued to batter each other Ryton picked up another try out wide to take it to 29-14. But still Novos would not give in, and as Ryton picked up a couple of injuries, they were able to capitalise with Eaves taking a great line, only to convert his own try and make it 29-21 with just 15 minutes to go. Spurred on further with the possibility of a win in sight, Novos worked hard to ship the ball out wide as quickly as possible, and with some fantastic running from Lex Leonard and Will Griffee Novos made good ground to allow Forbes to run in his second of the match, and fourth in two games (obviously not counting the mistaken "try" that was actually scored on the Ryton 5m line)! Much to Novos disappointment, there was just not enough time to pick up a final try, with the score finishing at 29-26 to Ryton.

Standout performances from the Novos side include Sam Dixon and Josh Floyd and particularly JP Addison in the forwards, as well as Ben Forbes and man of the match Ollie Eaves in the backs.

With great thanks to Ryton for an excellently close fought match, it is clear what Novos need to work on as they prepare to host Middlesbrough Wasps and travel to Northern 2’s over the next two weeks of the Candy League 2.