Development Team on Cloud Nine

Novos 3s headed over the the glitz and glamour of the West End with just 6 players retained of the starting line up from the 42-10 win over Gateshead a week earlier.

Back into the fold was the ever hairy Craig Paterson and the dependable Paul Sanderson to keep Ollie Dearden company at hooker. A strong second row of Kane Deakin and winge-bag Callum Hoy together with back-row legends Clive Carlin, captain Pratt, and James Desmond completed a tasty looking set of forwards. Christian Selkirk kept his place at 9 despite just a couple of hours sleep, with Novos favourite brummie Greg Humphreyson back to pull the strings at 10. Returning to the centres were Mark Hemmings and Tommy Wilson, with a speedy back-two of Conor Peniston-Bird (fresh from a morning run from Bank Foot) and David Marshall. Joe Carr was also playing.

Novos started well and early pressure led to a penalty 20m out, which was duly slotted by Jasper Carrott. A sloppy restart led to Novos defence being put to an early test. However, it wasn’t long until a turnover was won and forward Carlin a.k.a George Best put in a beautiful chip ahead which put West End under immense pressure. A spell of Novos pressure followed with their beefy forwards hammering away at the defence winning penalty after penalty. After a quick tap, the ball made it to the ginger-bearded Paterson who fed the ball to another, slightly more handsome ginger-bearded Hemmings in a bit of space who raced over under the posts for the first try of the match. Conversion successful and Novos into a 10-0 lead.

From the kick off Novos were straight back on the gas and soon into the opposition half. Following a few niggles on the fresh prince of Sutherland Park, the Novos second row went for a charge down on the West End scrum half, in a hit the opposition number 9 saw as late. Things boiled over and West End got what they wanted as Callum was replaced by Jack Salt to give him time to pick his dummies up.

There was ongoing Novos pressure but silly errors and decision making let them down on numerous occasions. West End did end up in the Novos half a few times and were helped by some indiscipline by Novos, including David Marshall getting upset after it was adjudged a quick lineout he took didn’t go the distance. Novos defence didn’t look like letting anything through however, with some strong defensive work by the half backs and centres and ongoing disruption by the forwards at the breakdown. Novos constantly looked dangerous in attack, with Conor Peniston-Bird nearly finishing off the first wide move of the afternoon but was pushed into touch. Another penalty was conceded by West End and in a similar position to last time, Adrian Chiles made easy work sending it through the posts on what was a hard day for goal kicking.

After more pressure from Novos and more kicking from Clive, they were soon back into the West End half and winning penalties. It wasn’t long until one was awarded in kicking distance, and up stepped Roy Wood who kept his 100% kicking record to send Novos into a healthy 16 - 0 lead.

Yet another botched restart put Novos under a lot of pressure and the remainder of the half was spent in their 22. Novos defended heroically and eventually forced an error on the try line and the half time whistle was blown.

Some calm words of wisdom were said by town crier Desmond and totalitarian leader Pratt. Thomo made way for Mike Cousins, this week promoted from the 2nd team.

The second half looked to be a more open affair, and it wasn’t long until ‘Vos were pressing forward looking to extend their lead. A sensational piece of skill by Hemmings was penalised when his one-handed flick to Carr to put the winger into acres of space but was deemed to have gone forward. Novos won the resulting scrum against the head and Greg Humphreyson decided to go on a wander. Like any sensible midlander taking the M6 toll in rush hour, Greg took the long route sideways and backwards away from the defensive traffic. However, there was no price to pay on this journey as the ball found its way to Paterson who remembered what happened last time he gave the ball to a back and released Peniston-Bird down the wing, skipping past multiple attempted tackles to score. Conversion missed but Novos now 21 - 0 up.

West End did not look like giving up easily and came back hard. Lots of pressure and penalties later they were camped on the Novos line and eventually were awarded a try despite Tommy Wilson’s best efforts. Conversion missed and the number of Marshalls’ on the pitch doubled as John replaced a tired Hemmings, and it didn’t take long until he knocked it on.

Real desire and urgency was then shown by West End as they continued to attack. Mike Cousins was bounced off in scenes similar to a van hitting an unsuspecting deer which was followed by yet more poor defence as West End scored their 2nd try under the posts. Score now 21 - 12 after the easy conversion was kicked. The earlier Salt-Hoy replacement was reversed after Callum promised he’d be a good boy.

A penalty was won directly from the kickoff 35 metres out, but the wind pulled it to the left and with 15 minutes to go the West End supporters on the sideline could taste a comeback. However, it was not to be as yet more great work from Wilson won a penalty to Novos who kicked to the corner, and after many phases a resting Cousins got the ball in midfield and rolled over the try line. What looked like a simple conversion was missed but Novos had a bit of room to breath with the score now at 26 - 12.

With 9 minutes left on the clock Kim Jong-Pratt replaced Paterson with fellow front-row-not-centre Shaun O’Connell and, without wanting the average team weight to drop too low, swapped out Selkirk for Chris Curson, making his 2nd appearance in as many weeks.

Curson’s instant impact was obvious to a worried Tom Wilson Snr. on the sidelines who quickly was advising Chris to “slow up!”. The remainder of the match was spent with Novos defending and Dearden not throwing in straight. As the ball went wide, Conor went on his last run of the day to try and intercept the pass but accidentally knocked on. The referee called an end to the contest with Novos unconvincingly victorious, winning 26 - 12 and West End deservingly holding their heads high after a strong 2nd half performance.

Two comments were reported back by West End after the match. One was about a player they singled out as the best back, but I won’t say who it was in case I get fined. The second was how they admitted to have singled out Callum before the match and deliberately tried to wind him up. This is a reputation, deserving or not, he should be keen to dispel.

Novos, yet to play to their best on this run of 9 successive wins will have to up all aspects of their game if they expect to win on the long bus trip to Berwick in the semi-final of the cup next weekend. Every player has another 20% to give and will have to do so on Saturday. There were some positives to be taken however, alongside some impressive individual performances. Clive Carlin was simply immense at the breakdown yet again, Kane Deakin put in another great shift, and Ian Pratt topped off a strong performance by managing not to high tackle anyone for the 2nd time this year. Christian Selkirk and Greg Humphreyson controlled the game very well kicking at the right times and were faultless in defence. Conor Peniston-Bird threatened every time he got the ball. But today’s man of the match was Tommy Wilson who tackled everything that came his way, carried very well, and showed off work at the breakdown even the best flanker would be jealous of.

After the game, the team had a diet coke each and were all tucked up in bed by 11pm. Callum Hoy had a very peaceful night's sleep.

Report by Mark Hemmings, vice-captain, aged 24.