Horden 2nd XV 14 - 27 Novos 2nd XV

On a glorious day in the coastal town of Horden, Novocastrians 2nd team leader Ben Melrose led his charges into a challenge against a large, physical Horden team. On a dry, 23 degree day on the Durham coastline; a day which could be seen to be suited to wide-open, ‘liquid’ rugby, something which should suit a smaller, more athletic Novos team.

The seconds made an astounding ten changes to the side which defeated Westoe last week for the sojourn to the coast, five of those changes coming in the forwards with Guy Douglas replacing Josh Floyd and debutant Ross Turner replacing Matt Barraclough in the front row, a new lock pairing with Jonathan Bird and Peter Wilson coming into the side for Callum Hoy and Jack Spoor and Matt Freeman swapping in with Shaun Stewart on the side of the scrum. In the backs, there was the new halfback pairing of Andrew Maxwell and Greg Humphreyson coming into the side at 9 and 10 respectively for Matthew Bradford and Lewis Chater, a new centre pairing with Euan Binmore and Jan Safranek dropping out for Ben Melrose and Sam Bird and finally Colm O’Keeffe coming into the side for Luke Mitchell.

Novocastrians team:
1. Alexander Milton
2. Ross Turner
3. Guy Douglas
4. Jonathan Bird
5. Peter Wilson
6. Matt Freeman
7. Michael Nugent
8. Joe Ball
9. Andrew Maxwell
10. Greg Humphreyson
11. James Bass
12. Ben Melrose
13. Samuel Bird
14. Nick Byrne
15. Colm O’Keeffe
16. Ben Forbes
17. Will Doyle
18. Jack Salt
19. Joel McKale
20. Jamie Wallace
21. Mike Baker

After an intensive, focused warm-up both teams were ready to kick-off with Greg Humphreyson starting the game into a light breeze. After an early struggle, characterised by strong tactical kicking by the black-country standoff and promising work at the set-piece by a Novos pack who were dwarfed by their Horden counterparts. Though after a period of pressure, an unfortunate offside call at the lineout, attributed to tighthead prop Guy Douglas alleviated the pressure on Horden and allowed them to clear their lines.

Sadly – ten minutes in – debutant hooker Ross Turner, who looked lively and industrious, charged into contact and due to an awkward landing had to be replaced due to ligament damage in his upper left arm. We wish him the best and hope he returns to play soon. That did not stop a lively Novos team, as a sublime piece of interchange and offloading between Nugent, Freeman et al, set up last week’s MOTM Nick Byrne in the corner for an outstanding score, possibly a try of the season contender.

With the srummaging now forced to go to uncontested for the rest of the match due to a lack of front row cover, Novos could no longer use the scrums as an opportunity to carry on dominating, but instead had to look to spread the play in an attempt to wear the Horden pack out. An excellent first half, controlled largely by Maxwell and Humphreyson saw Novos maintain the territory, and after numerous attacks, fantastic support play, and soft hands, Novos could exert enough pressure to force a penalty on the Horden 22, allowing Humphreyson to take the score to 0-8 where it remained until half-time.

The second-half saw all replacements take the field, all of which made noticeable differences, in particular Horden did not like having to tackle someone of their own size in Mike Baker, albeit for 15 minutes. Horden were able to make the most of the large number of changes by picking up try early into the second-half, but quick thinking from Milton with a tap-and-go penalty on the Horden 5 meter line. More battling up front and a closely contests 30 mins saw tries each from Horden and Novos' Matt Freeman, but with the score at 14-20 Novos pushed hard for the 4-try bonus point, and in the final passage of play eventual International Syalons Man of the Match Will Doyle managed just that - after relentless pressure on the Horden 5 meter line, and a perfectly timed pass from Maxwell, Doyle bossed his way over the line. A successful Humphreyson conversion took the final score to a 14-27 Novos victory and a second win of the season, affording a young side mountains of momentum heading into a home leg against a Westoe side next week, who will be looking for revenge after last week’s victory in South Shields.

Thanks go to the referee for controlling the game so well, and to Horden for agreeing to continue the fixture with uncontested scrums so early in the match - this is something that Novos cannot let happen again and we call upon other club members to step up and make themselves available.

Don't forget training on Thursday will be at 6.15 so as to allow time to watch the cheating All Blacks - we understand this is early for many so just get there whenever you can. A Kiwi pie company is supplying food during the RWC match - don't miss out!