Match Report

In the 2nd week of the Candy League Conference C, Novos travelled to Tynedale to take on the Corbridge Centurions in excellent conditions for rugby.

After a solid warm-up, Novos kicked off and immediately exerted pressure with Scott Elliott scoring the first points of the afternoon after just 5 minutes with a some excellent footwork to exploit a gap in the Centurions defence. Elliot was able to add to his try with a successful conversion. 10 minutes later, and after Matt Macauley took a rather uncomfortable boot to the groin and conceded a penalty in the process, Centurions were able to burst through the Novos defence from 5 meters out to make it 5-7. Novos were able to quickly regroup, and scored almost immediately from the kick off with Luke Mitchell scoring in the corner from a quickly taken penalty, and Elliott adding 2 more with a brilliant conversion from the touchline. Unfortunately Centurions responded with a succession of quick phases which after some poor tackling ended with them taking the score to 10-14. A penalty from the boot of Elliott extended Novos lead to 10-17. Centurions responded once again, but this time with two tries through more fast phases that Novos were able to cope with to make it 20-17, but another try from Scott Elliott’s quick thinking as he took a quick free-kick put Novos back in the lead at 20-22. Novos lead was short lived as Centurions went ahead moments before half time with another high tempo attack to make it 27-22 at half time.

The second half started well for Novos with good pressure forcing repeated Centurions penalties and eventually a Centurion yellow card, and an Alex Milton try from a driving maul. The rest of the second half did not go as well as Novos had hoped as Centurions ran in 3 tries despite some excellent play from Novos, who were eventually rewarded with a try from Jake Pickering in the final play of the game to make it 42-34.

The clear man of the match was Scott Elliott.

It was a fitting and positive end to a very positive game from Novos who, despite the loss, were able to pick up a 4-try bonus point and were just one point off a losing bonus point. There are however still many things to work on if Novos are to begin picking up results - because of this it is essential that training continues as positively as it has been recently.