Novos dig deep to earn hard fought win

Following last week’s good performance against table topping Alnwick for the league above, Novos 3s were in confident mood as they took on Gateshead at Paddy Freemans.

On a day when Novos had 4 teams out a strong squad of 18 was named, which shows the depth the club has these days.

Following good warm up full of good banter, with a fair amount aimed at the captain’s drops last week, the boys were ready for action.

Novos started off defending the downhill end and we receiving the kick off. Things didn’t go to plan from the kick off, as the main micky taker dropped the ball. I won’t name the culprit but I am sure you can a guess who it was.

From the scrum Novos power began to show as they managed to turn the scrum, resulting in a scrum to Novos. From the scrum Novos made good ground up the pitch following a good back move.

After 5 minutes Novos were awarded a penalty in the Gateshead 22, they opted for the scrum. Gateshead used illegal tactics to prevent the push over; Novos went for another scrum same result. On the third scrum Novos drove Gateshead back and James Desmond controlled well at the back of the scrum and touched down as the pack went over the line. Greg Humphreyson narrowly missed the wide conversion; it looked over to me…

Novos continued to dominate in the scrums and in the backs but drops were costing Novos chances to add to the score. Following excellent pick and goes by the pack and some slick backs moves both fullback Joe Carr and winger Michael Parkin dropped the ball on the try line.

This would cost Novos as just before half time, Gateshead managed to create and overlap and score in the corner, with a missed conversion the game was tied 5-5 going into the break.

There was good positive talk at half time and the 3s were going to take their chances when they came.

Michael Parkin took a break as David Marshall(late as usual) came off the bench to replace him. Joe Carr moved to wing to accommodate Marshall at fullback.

5 minutes into the second half with a scrum just outside of the Gateshead 22 scrum half Christian Selkirk made a break blind he drew the blindside wing and put try score extraordinaire Joe Carr in to score in the corner. From a wide angle Humphreyson hit the post with the conversion.

5 minutes later Novos were down to 14 men as Humphreyson saw yellow for a technical infringement or back chatting. This meant a reshuffle in the backline and Gateshead kicked the penalty to make it 10-8 to Novos.

Big Gavin Evans joined the party following injury to replace James Coles, with James Desmond moving from 8 to the row.

Winger David Hopkins took a break after a good game to be replaced by James Weaver.

Novos were still dominating the game despite being down to 14 men, so they decided to even the game up by going down to 13 men. Selkirk was punched then threw a couple of haymakers then there was a big dust up, the end result 10 minutes in the bin for Selkirk.

Clive Carlin moved from the back row to 9.

Despite being down to 13 Novos were still playing good rugby and most of the game was played in the Gateshead half. Humphreyson re-joined action following his 10 minute breather.

From a lineout just in the Gateshead half skipper Ian Pratt claimed the lineout (wow one actually was straight and made it to the second jumper :o) ) Novos drove the mall up the field and second row Kane Deakin broke through 4 tackles to score in the corner. Gregg Humphreyson slotted over the difficult conversion 17-8 to Novos.

Street fighter Christian came back on from the bin, to give Novos a full complement of players.

With 5 minutes to go Novos got a penalty just outside the Gateshead 22, Humphreyson kicked the three points to make it 20-8. (Gateshead committed the ref was out our side we had 2 men binned…!!!)

During the last 5 minutes Humphreyson controlled the game well from 10 to kick for good field position as Novos saw out the win.

It was an excellent win against a tough side, there are still things to work on but if we keep on improving like we have done over the last two weeks winning the league is a real possibility.

There were good performances all round, Christian Selkirk had a storming game against his old club. Kane Deaking was immense in the pack (not at lifting in the lineout though) Man of the Match goes to Gregg Humphreyson who from 10 controlled the game for the 70minutes he was on the pitch, his kicking and game management was top class.

Next week the 3s are home to Blaydon on the big first team pitch, it will be a tough game but we owe them one for the beating they dished out earlier on the in the season.