Novos Continue in the cup!

A grand day out for the ladies as they marched in the last eight in the National cup competition courtesy 7 tries and the trusty boot of Fee Shanks!

Having finished the league season in 5th place Novos were handed another tricky looking away tie to a side from the league below with Ormskirk sitting top of National Division 2 North and still potentially making the jump to our league next season. Added to that regular starters Rachael Yost, Sarah Palmer were injured, Chrissie Miller at work and Hannah Pollard sunning herself on a beach in Barbados, all missing from the pack and stand off Emma Nichol, centre Rachel Roberts missing from the back line led to some shuffling and the introduction of new signing Ruth Appleby an imposing second row and a great addition to our squad.

The team set off bright and early on the long Journey South, buoyed by a good luck message from Pollard of a golden beach in blazing sunshine with ‘good luck Novos’ carved into the sand… Perhaps not having the desired effect with the prospect of wrestling in the freezing cold on a muddy wet pitch! Arriving a little late, Ormskirk graciously allowed an extra 15 minutes warm up time.

Novos starting line up was showing some changes but still looked strong on paper, Fee Shanks dragged into the front row alongside Lisa Wakefield and evergreen prop talisman Sally Fitzpatrick were locked by Sarah Kilby and Ruth Appleby, the back row was a ‘dream team triumvirate of Fran Mockford, Janey Eccles and Amelia Neagle (Mr Willis favourite dream girl)

Oli Critchley came in to number 9 and Skipper Steph Maddison moved to stand off, Ali Lonie and Emily Oliver were in the centre with a pacy back three of Betsy Severs, Fanny Fouin and Rachael Fleming. On the bench Jamie Stewart, Promise Chapwanya and Cathy Foster.

The game kicked off and Ormskirk started well, certainly proving game opponents with some solid tackling and hard running, despite having a smaller pack Novos seemed to have an edge up front and in contact and it wasn’t long before Fran Mockford ignored an overlap of four to bludgeon over from 5 yards! Fee Shanks missing the conversion for 0-5.

Novos were starting to look dominant and went close again before Skipper Maddison dropped the ball in the act of scoring which allowed Ormskirk to clear, this pattern continued about ten minutes before Fanny Fouin intercepted to race away and score under the posts, Fee Shanks with an easy conversion. 0-12.

The next try was a storming individual effort from Janey Eccles who, following an outrageous turnover from the impressive Sarah Kilby saw the ball moved, 2 passes away from the breakdown created space for Eccles and from half way she accelerated through two tackles before dummying the fullback to score, with another Fee Shanks conversion the score was 0-19.

Before half time it was 0-24, Janey Eccles again darting over, this time from much shorter range.

The half time team talk was very positive, Novos were in control but Ormskirk were proving tough to break down, concentrate on body positions in contact, play with structure and exploit the mis-matches with numbers and passing.

The first 30 minutes of the second half so Novos play some of their best rugby, defencively very disciplined and in attack always dangerous, Sally Fitzpatrick denied the ‘peoples try’ when adjudged to have been held up over the line, Novos won the resultant scrum and a few phases later Fee Shanks found herself in space, With the most outrageous show and go seen since Ruth Scott, Fee danced her way round several (One) would be tacklers to race over from some distance (5 yards) for a contender for try of the season! Gloriously adding the additional points for the cherry on the cake – 0-31

Next to score was Amelia Neagle who with double tuck reverse swan dive scoring 9.5 from the watching judges, Mr Willis’ (Who scored it a ten) dream girl further stretching Novos Ladies lead to 0-36… Fee Shanks still recovering from her try scoring exploits unable to add to the scores from the boot.

The final score came on 65 minutes with Rachel Fleming completing a run around to score wide and complete Novos scoring at 0-41.

Fair play to our hosts, who were combative and stubborn, they scored a deserved try with a cross-field kick being collected and scored with a conversion – 7-41 before repeating the trick moments later in the opposite corner for 12-41…. This sparked Novos back into life but a kick to space from Maddison saw the Ormskirk 13 collect the ball and with a touch of class chipped over the oncoming defence, collected and raced away from the cover defence to score and complete the game at 17 – 41.

Novos played well against good opposition for 70 minutes but will be keen to take the late errors and defencive lapses out of the equation before the next round of the competition on 22nd February against opposition to be confirmed.

Ormskirk are to be applauded, great hosts who stuck to the task at hand and seemed to relish the chance of playing against a team from a higher league, they had some talented players and will certainly be tough to beat if they do come up to our league.

Several Novos players excelled, Fee Shanks was dominant in scrummage and hard running as ever, Lisa Wakefield solid and technically superb in the tight stealing countless opposition scrummage put in, Sarah Kilby had her best game for Novos despite being ill and Ruth Appleby was excellent on debut. Ormskirk were also unable to cope with the running and tackling from the dream team in the back row.. Jamie Stewart and Promise Chapwanya continuing when coming off the bench with impressive showings. In the forwards though, it was the quiet assurance of Sally Fitzpatrick, Always doing the right thing at the right time, bringing the assurance and calm to proceedings added to the usual scrummaging masterclass who was awarded forward of the match.

In the backs, Steph Maddison stepped up to fly half well, playing a simple game plan and getting the back line firing – Ali Lonie and Emily Oliver strong and disciplined in defence and going forward, Betsy and Rachel Fleming had fine games and Fanny Fouin is now just five tries behing Betsy after picking up her 13th touchdown of the season, Cathy Foster was solid and brave under some kicks and pressure continuing to improve with every game… Back of the match though was Oli Critchley, taking her chance of a rare start really well, distributing well and competing for everything while displaying a touch of the maverick at times which if we can control will see her starting many more games.

Novos have a weekend off next week before a 7s tournament at Newcastle Uni on the 15th where we hope to enter 2 sides, the quarter final on 22nd February and a trip to RHC Cougars in Edinburgh 8th March for a friendly before playing Sunderland at home as a precursor to the 1st XV game… Hopefully we can add 2 more games to that fixture list and reach the final of this competition.

Remaining sides (Competition is regionalised until Semi final):

South

Cheltenham Ladies who beat Rosslyn Park 54-5
Henley Ladies (Who beat us last year) who were given a walkover by Plymouth
Old Albanians (Emma Nichols old side) who beat Blackheath 33- 0
Hove Ladies who were given a walkover by Reading

North

West Park Leeds who won over Preston Grasshoppers 50-0
Loughbrough who were also given a walkover
Eccles who edged West Bridgford 12-17

And of course us!!