Match report: Novos 3s away to Bishop Aukland 2s.

Match report: Novos 3s away to Bishop Aukland 2s.
On a surprisingly nice day in Bishop Aukland, Novos 3s arrived with the intention of securing a spot in a second cup final of the season. Late arrivals meant the warm up was poor however rousing words in the changing room turned on the focus and mentaly prepared the players for the inevitable battle ahead.
A slight wind, clear skies and a firm pitch promised high intensity running rugby. Exchanges in the opening minutes were littered with errors before a clever clearing kick from joe ball relieved pressure and took play up to half way.
Here the Novos pack set the tone stealing the line out and making ground up towards the Bishop 22. Excellent handling skills and support play by both backs and forwards kept possession for Novos in the Bishop 22 with breaks coming on the wings and the middle form clever inside balls from Selkirk to loose forwards really taking the game to bishop. The Novos pack continued to deliver ball from the lineout just outside the Bishop 22 which allowed scrum half Ollie Richardson to deliver a neat pass to Selkirk who hit Joe Ball on a crash line. However a clever step and a show-and-go saw Ball head over the line for the first try of the game. Richardson slots the conversion. A solid catch from the resatart and a good clearing kick from Selkirk put Novos back into the Bishop half. Bishop kick which is well fielded by Colm at fullback who makes a 60m run to really put the pressure back on Bishop. Good footwork form Selkirk and a cute line run by Marshall saw Marshall seemingly heading under the post. However the Bishop Fijian monster playing at inside centre appeared as if from nowhere to swallow Marshall whole. Legend has it only divine intervention saved Marshalls life and allowed him to play on. Clever play from Bishop saw them move the ball wide and gain a lot of ground reversing the play through their big forwards. Novos conceded a penalty later in the half allowing the talented Bishop kicker an easy three points. the rest of the first half saw breaks from Bulfin, Ball and Colm make ground but ultimate result in nothing. A moment of controversy was also seen when the referee deemed an excellent pass form centre Ball to wing Bulfin as forward. The crowd could not believe it and Ball had his head in his hands as, for once it was a good pass. You got that one wrong Sir. The half finished 7-3 to Novos with the Novos forwards working incredibly hard around the pitch and Sean Ramsey not leaving a blade of grass untouched.
The second half saw more of the same with an excellent take and pass from O'Connell to Ramsey allowed Ramsey to test the defence and take us back into the Bishop half. More pressure and hard work allowed Novos front foot ball with Selkirk pulling the strongs with some good kicking and a pass which found Ball running hard through a gap and putting his foot down to evade to tackles of the covering fullback and wing to go over for his second try of the game. Richardson again converts. However errors from the men in red allowed the men in blue to get a foothold back in the game. Some defensive miscommunication saw Bishop go close from a lineout. Novos were to slow to react and Bishop send the ball down the line with some decent handling to go over in the corner. Their kicker again adds the extras. Novos were up against it now as Bishop got their tales up and began to dominate the scum battle. Some quality recovery form skipper Ian Pratt nullified most of the danger. Bishop forwards continued to make ground in open play which saw Bishop back into the Novos 22. The use of their Fijian monster was becoming more prominent with some heroic defence coming form Dearden and Marshall. However a dominant bishop scrum in Novos 22 aloud the Fijian to crash over from short range bouncing Colm into next week. Legend has it Colm actually landed back in Ireland after that tackle (we wish Colm well on his move).
From the restart a clever take from a Bishop forward took us by surprise however Jack Salt looked certain to make a tackle. However a tackle was not made as Salt thought showing the Bishop supports his break dancing would be a better use of his time and in the process ST Paddys day casualty Gardener leaving him with a terrible bloody nose. Legend has it Salt is still in Bishop Aukland trying to moon walk.
as the half went on we continued to play in the right areas and some slick handling and unorganised bishop defence allowed Ball space to pin his ears back and race for the corner for his hatrick. Maybe this will begin to silence rumours that he is a forward....
Richardson flawless with the boot slotting a difficult conversion. More dominant possession and heroic defence along with breaks from Harrap saw us back in the right areas. Again Novos steal ball at the line out which saw Marshall break the defence and show some canny footwork to go over for Novos 4th try. Richardson again converts. Another quick fire try from Bishop meant that there was 10 minutes left with a 5 points difference favouring Novos. As Bishop seemingly work up and Novos took their foot off the gas thinking the game was won it was squeaky bum time as Bishop bombarded Novos for the full 10 minutes winning penalty after penalty. However it wasn't meant to be for the men in Blue as substitues Venables and Duncan put their bodies on the line for the cause leading to a turnover and a kick off the pitch to seal the 28-23 win.
Despite some handbags from both sides the game was mostly played in good spirits and credit to the Bishop lads that was a tough game that could have gone either way.
A second final for the threes this season is a great result for all the boys playing and for the club. With more hard work and the same never say die attitude I see no reason why both trophies cant be brought back to Novos this season.
apologies for anything I've missed, events being in the wrong order and general appalling spelling and grammar. I hope you've enjoyed the read.