Development team punished

A brave you inexperienced Development team took on Percy Park "Marauders" and were soundly beaten but signs are that the future is bright for this young side.

After one of the hardest weeks teams out Novos just about got out four teams, the Development team weren’t helped by two last minute drop outs, so the Centurians were raided.

Percy Park named a very strong team and went ahead early on, when Novos had ball in hand with their young back line were causing Park problems but getting the ball was Novos problem as the pack couldn’t complete in the loose or scrums.

After 3 Park tries Novos got on the score sheet through Gary Redshaw after a good backs move put the young full back in space to run the try in from 20 meters out, Chris Curson missed the conversion.

Park scored a couple more tires before Sam MacGregor kicked through and was going to score before a park player pulled him back, the ref awarded a penalty try converted by Curson.

Just after half time Novos lost Steve Thompson and Steve Crowe with the Centurians down to 11 men v 15 in a friendly the Development team couldn’t take anyone so would play most of the second half with 13 men.

Park began to use their numerical advantage to run in the tires, but Novos never gave up especially the backs they were tackling hard and creating chances to score if only we had 15 men.

The excellent rapid Mikko Heikkilla scored in the corner for an atomic 7 point try with local rules. Novos kept plugging away and nearly scored several times as they searched for a 4 try and a bonus point, which eventually came with two minutes reaming through another good backs move with James Parkinson scoring in the corner to end the game 26-96.

Despite the heavy defeat Novos never gave up and there were plenty of positives to take out of the game. The back line were all excellent with new stars emerging all with plenty of pace, which mean if we get the pack sorted Novos will be able to hand out some big beatings of their own this season.

Man of the Match goes the Gary Redshaw for taking some excellent high balls at full back, making good runs, try saving tackles and scoring a try.

Next week the Development team are home to Sunderland 3s.