Novos Development take Alnwick to the Circus

By Andrew Gardiner with some minor editing for accuracy.

The strongest 3rd side for many years entertained Alnwick at the weekend for what proved to be a battle of brute force. Novos knew they had their work cut out for them from the warm up with Kim Jong Pratt laying on the charm through yet another inspiring team talk of positivity. At this point our kicker of the day decided to watch the 1st team to learn how to put his foot through it and was brought to Harradise with a conversion that didn’t manage to go above knee height.

At some point the match kicked off and the circus began, I remember very little so none of this is likely to be true. A tiny Alnwick side came at Novos with lion force in the early stages but where held back by a front five using whips and chairs that had a point to prove. Jack Salt with a whip is not something I want to remember. Finally pressure was relieved by a fantastic kick from the returning Jack Callaghan.

Vos started to get the decisions from the ref and took advantage with a break through the middle from the centre shaun Stewart while screaming that he is now a back row player(Penalty try to Novos). Alnwick came back and our forwards continued to match them up front but the effective pick and go produced a penalty try after the 35 phase.

Alnwick again attacked like a herd of elephants but after strong defence holding them up over the line Novos took the resulting scrum against the head and cleared their lines. The man that claims to be top try scorer Mark Hemmings then put in a good chip and chase to force another Novos touch down, although I have no idea who scored. Considering the score stayed 7-7 at this point it is unlikely anyone did. But Novos did score shortly after while I was watching another match(Shaun Stewart scored and David Marshall added the conversion).

Dave Marshall continued to make quality runs from defence that a trapeze artist would be proud of but unfortunately Alnwick where motivated by this and scored again to talk the score to 14-14 at half time.

Jamie Wallace took the restart and Novos attacked through a great break by Luke Mitchell. What was to follow has not been seen in Novos rugby since 2008 Paul Sanderson discovered a gap that only a contortionist could fit into and somehow squeezed through to score what has to be the try of the decade – at least for him in any case.

Alnwick scored again shortly afterwards to take the score to 21-17 shortly after but Novos where not to be stopped. (Shaun Stewart added a penalty 24-17) Shaun Stewart decided his feet where no longer a size 10 the reason for his poor kicking and changed boots to a much better size 14. This was an inspired decision and the clown scored shortly after again screaming ‘I am the best 6 ever, no centre has size 14 feet’. 31-24

The game settled down and after a couple of great scores from each side ended(Shaun Stewart scored following an amazing number 8 pick up and run from Ian Pratt, who drew the Alnwick centre before passing the ball to Justin Taylor, who then passed to Peniston-Bird who then put away clown feet to score his hattrick, conversion added by David Marshall) with a great and well deserved win 38-31 for Novos only to be called a bunch of clowns(Not sure this happened...) in the team huddle afterwards by our glorious leader.

Special mentions must go to John Paul Addison who kept saying in the bar afterwards – did you see that run I must have made 50 yards. No JP I didn’t I was playing rugby and not involved in your dream. Fergus Dunn was impressive when he came on with some great work on both wings from Conor and Alex. However it was largely an all-round effort with everyone fronting up and playing their part. Next up Ryton away(Now Sunderland) – the show must go on.