Murder in Morpeth

Novo’s v Morpeth 2’s
Saturday morning Novo’s republic travelled north to the ancient town of Morpeth to take on their prestigious second team. Morpeth 2’s are a fine unit, and are similar to the last nut in a packet of pistachios which you can never open, where as our Novo’s men had their shells well and truly stripped off in the first 20. One Novo’s team player actually cracked his skull open in the first passage of play leading to the dodgiest head assessment in rugby history.
The Christmas season is just around the corner and Novo’s gave Morpeth their Christmas presents early this year with a few easy run in’s at the start of the game. This was a sign of what was to come and the Morpeth lads didn’t hold up running over for fun and opening a gaping lead in the first half.
This now was an uphill battle and the Novo’s men pitched tents on what seemed to be over the dead ball line from where the Novo’s faithful were standing but no arm was being raised by the man in the middle.
The forwards closed in the first half strongly and the pressure was still building with the platform set on the oppositions 5M line, this eventually lead to Johnny Bird diving over the white wash making sure his shorts got dirty. Dixon converted and the half time whistle was blown.
The positives from the first half were few but Novo’s didn’t lose a line out or scrum which was something to build on in the second half, plus things couldn’t possibly get any worse.
The Novo’s men had little time to reflect and words were spoken in the huddle and this fired some spark in the Novo’s men and the intensity was increased by everyone on the field. This lead to numerous good passages of play asking questions of the Morpeth side.
Tommy “I’ll knock you out John” Wilson made a fine run past some strong Morpeth men and recycled the ball where Morpeth were penalised and the scrum was set. Our dear leader picked the ball from the back of the scrum and gave Hemmings the opportunity to pass to Ben Kelly to touch down in the corner after beating 2-3 players, Dixon converted with style with a confident kick straight over the middle of the crossbar.
There was some good tackles being made by the Novo’s men in the middle of the park but once the ball was thrown out wide by Morpeth holes were opening in the Novo’s back line and more flamboyant rugby was on show with Morpeth throwing dummies for fun and scoring trys for fun too.
A kick chase led to the final Novo’s score of the game where Ben “Kung Fu” Kelly’s acrobatic skills nudged the ball from a Morpeth palm to finish the scoring for the Republic.
The Novo’s men that need to have their names mentioned for putting up a good display and showing some of the passion needed to win games are Ed Cocker, Gus, Stu Wilson and Ali Leveret. These lads put in a good shift and deserve a pat on the back for not giving up and rolling over. Honestly lads, well done as this game was far from being a level playing field from the start.
MOM Ed Cocker
Report by team physio/anger management coach Colm O Keeffe