Match Report - Novos 2s vs Wests

West Hartlepool RFC 38 - 26 Novocastrians

On Saturday 16th December the 2nd XV travelled away to face West Hartlepool in a friendly - where they were greeted by some very windy conditions.

The game started with Novos giving away multiple penalties early on which ultimately led to West Hartlepool scoring the opening try. Taking the lead off the back of a well worked move from a line out before converting the try.

West Hartlepool then capitalised on a loose ball and carried the ball 60 metres before they were stopped by what was believed to be a great try saving tackle by Harry Jones 10 meters out. However, the referee questionably interpreted it to be a high tackle and awarded a penalty try to our opposition.

As Novos fell 14-0 down some words of encouragement from captain Ian Ramsey fired up the team with some strong carries and line breaks from centres Dan Vicary and Zinzan Fraser.

West Hartlepool seemed to start feeling the pressure from Novos, some great carries from Josh Hood and Dylan Mills created some chaos around the ruck and allowed Ben Rodgers to take advantage as he cleverly got over the line for Novos first try. Which was then nicely converted by Harry Jones. 14-7.

The pressure from Novos continued as West Hartlepool began to give away penalties allowing the away side to gain lots of territory thanks to the boot of Harry Jones and some help from the great gusts of wind.

A penalty with the intent of reaching the touch line from deep in our own 22 seemed for all the world to be going dead behind the West Hartlepool try line had it not been for the courageous chase from winger Adam Lambert who forced the opposition into a goal line drop out. As a result of the drop out a solid catch and carry from Tom Platt had the opposition defenders scrambling to fill gaps in their defensive line which were exploited by the explosive Dan Vicary who scored Novos second try. Harry Jones tied up the scores with the conversion at 14-14 going into half time.

An injury to the number 13 Zinzan Fraser lead to the introduction of Christian Selkirk at 12 as well as a few more half time changes as Rohan Cook, Josh Hood and Ross Cleminson made way, after very solid first half performance for Jamie Killoh, Jonny Smith and Ethan Morton.

The windy conditions continued into the 2nd half forcing numerous knock ons and forward passes for both sides. The scrums were very well contested throughout as our front row of Ant McQuillian, Ben Rodgers and Ian Wood worked tirelessly.

It was West Hartlepool who struck first in the second half after some valiant defence by Novos to keep the opposition out for a number of phases only 5 metres out from our own try line. A quick pick out the back of the ruck and a lunge over the line from West Hartlepool put them 21-14 up as the try was converted.

There was a rather swift response from Novos after going behind again. Great awareness from Ian Ramsey and Christian Selkirk allowed the lads to take advantage of the blind side overlap that had opened up. This followed up by some top passing play from Selkirk to Tom Platt then to Dan Vicary who fixed his man before passing to Adam Lambert 30 yards out to get outside his man and race to the try line setting up an easy conversion for Harry Jones to again tie to scores at 21-21.

The West Hartlepool number 10 had an impressive kick in his locker and Novos acknowledged this in the first half. The back 3 of Adam Lambert, Ben Wilkinson and Ethan Morton dealt with this well cleaning up anything in behind as well as an outrageous catch by Wilkinson and some passing play leading to a deliberate knock on by the opposition which saw them go down to 14 for 10 minutes. Unfortunately, Novos were unable to use the numerical advantage and West Hartlepool took the lead once again but this time were unable to convert the extra 2 points.

A true resilient performance by Novos as they refused to let the opposition run away with the game. Continued purposeful carries and rucking from the forwards, with shoutout to Sully Ismail, lead to a penalty 10 meters out. Novos selected to take the penalty quickly and pass to the battering ram Ben Rodgers who got through 5 West Hartlepool men before putting the ball through an opposition players legs on the line. Despite the questionable quadruple movement the referee was certain it was a try and was quoted saying “Not much gets past me.” Again the scores were tied now at 26-26 going as the conversion was unsuccessful from Harry Jones.

Going into the final 10 minutes the momentum was with Novos as the opposition were camped in their own half. However, we were unfortunate to have the referees decision go against us as he deemed Tom Platt to have crossed Jonny Smith despite him being not being in anybody’s path.

As a result of this decision West Hartlepool were able to gain territory into our half and from a successful line out and drag the Novos players to one side before shifting a long ball across the field where they had the numerical advantage. Despite a crunching tackle from Adam Lambert 5 meters out, the opposition was able to gather the ball quickly and get across the line with 5 minutes to go and now leading 33-26.

Novos final chance to try rescue a result on the road was from a scrum on half way. The attack sadly lead to nothing for Novos but instead in the last play of the game West Hartlepool were clinical and came away with another try to take the score to 38-26.

A resilient display from Novos but unfortunately wasn’t enough to beat a clinical West Hartlepool side.

Many thanks to West Hartlepool for the friendly, and wishing you all a Merry Christmas. Up the Vos!