As is apparently often the case, Novos 2’s have had a difficult start to the season in the Candy League II. With an embarrassing failure to put out a side to face Westoe 2’s in the first match of the season we were sent straight to the bottom of the table as the only side in the league without a point.

The following week saw us host an extremely physical Horden 2’s. In perfect rugby conditions and in front of a good number of spectators, Novos were quickly put under pressure by a much stronger and more aggressive Horden pack showing their dominance with a couple of well worked rolling mauls and a penalty try. Novos responded well with some very encouraging play with ball in hand, and were gifted a number of penalties in the Horden half that we were unable to capitalise on. Some fantastic strength and running from the Lex Leonard and Dan Bollado saw Novos pick up some well needed tries, however we were facing a rather heavy defeat at half time with the score at 14-31. The second half saw an excellent fight back from Novos, who showed great heart and with another try from the eventual man of the match Lex Leonard, as well as tries from Mike Cousins, Jack Watkins and Stewart Wilson, and some excellent kicking from Jason McDermott saw Novos pull it back to trail by a point at 42-43. However a determined and battling Horden, who were struggling with a number of knocks, were able to make the most of some missed tackles out wide and score a final try to finish the match at 42-50, with Novos picking up one bonus point and narrowly missing out on a second.

This week saw a Novos side that looked very strong on paper, travel to Blaydon to take on a Development side that was struggling for numbers and was unable to put out a side the week before. Unfortunately a poor start from a complacent Novos side who, despite a great warm up, looked rather shell shocked after conceding early tries from a very powerful and aggressive Blaydon side. A lack of fire power up front and some poor talking all round, as well as a number of early injuries allowed Blaydon to build up a comprehensive lead despite two solid penalty kicks from Eoin Scullion in the first half. The second half saw Novos dig deep and not give up, with some strong running by Lex Leonard and some excellent play and superb kicking from Christian Selkirk leading to converted tries from Luke Mitchell and Sam Dixon. However a failure to put away some crucial final passes and a lack of strength and fitness proved far from enough to compete with a strong Blaydon outfit, whose coaching staff even offered to end the game with 15 minutes to go. Particular mentions must go to debutants Luke Toulmin and James Coles who certainly made positive impressions and are likely to feature strongly in the rest of this season’s campaign. Extended thanks must go to Craig Paterson who stepped up from the 3’s to play prop for us, and to Michael Tincombe who took a very wobbly James Coles to A&E to seek attention for mild concussion.

The coming weeks will see Novos 2’s take on Ponteland (h), Corbridge (a), and Bishop Auckland (h), with a huge push to see the effort put into training converted into league points.