Match Report

It has been a tough couple of weeks for the Novos Super 2’s with losses to Middlesbrough at home and to Northern away, as well as losing 5 league points after the withdrawal of Ponteland from the Candy League.

This week Novos travelled the short trip away to Northern with a depleted side following around 25 players missing from the top two sides due to injuries and unavailability. This subsequently left the 2’s without a front row and having to go uncontested from the start, thus awarding Northern the full 4 league points. Novos were extremely grateful of Dale Dannatt, Stewart Wilson, and Dan Hipps, who all stepped up from the 3’s, and of new recruit Adam Reid, to help out in the forwards. However with a number of key players missing, many players were unfortunately forced to play out of position; and after a handful of players arriving late and fractious warm up in wet conditions, Novos began the match determined to fight for the bonus points. The first 10 minutes showed just what Novos were capable of, with some excellent play leading to a try from Richie Mitchell, converted by Jack Callaghan. Sadly, the subsequent 70 minutes did not go as well as Novos had hoped as Northern ran in 53 unanswered points. Novos continued to battle on, and despite some good passages of play in the second half, they were just not clinical enough to convert their possession into points.

Thanks go to the referee and to Northern for a good game, and once again, many thanks to those players who stepped up from other sides, and to those that had to play out of position for most of the match.