Novos last outing of the season saw us make the short trip to Northern RFC for the County Festival. Northern were excellent hosts; the whole day ran very smoothly and to time. There was some great rugby played and in a great spirit. Even the weather was kind, the sun shone and the north wind didn’t blow too hard.

The coaches were pleased with a great turn out from Novos, almost the whole squad was available so we were able to field three teams. The teams all displayed the new skills that they had learned this season, much to the relief of the coaches!

Thanks go to Rachel, Jocasta and Leon and David for taking notes and writing the following match reports.

THE WHITE KNIGHTS – coaches Rachel and Craig

In the White Knights our team was made up of Charlie, James Me, James My, Angus, Ollie Fo, Ben S, Harvey, Louis, Rhys and Finlay. We started our tournament with a game against Northern, and a very evenly fought match it was aswell. The two sides played well and for every tackle Novos made there was a counter tackle by a Northern player. A couple of knock-ons and missed passes showed we were a little rusty but Ollie burst through their defence to get our first try on the scoreboard. Some fine attacking play by Northern gave them 2 tries and in the last few minutes Charlie managed to rip the ball off a Northern player and sprinted for the try line. Final score honours even at 2-2.

Next up were Alnwick and after the initial shock the boys felt at playing boys who seemed twice their size (!) they got down to business. Ben was making headway with some driving runs through the middle of the pitch and then a knock on meant a chance for a scrum and James Mre decided it was time to try our 'Big Bang' move (something we had all practised in training on Thursday). I kept my fingers crossed and although not perfect, thanks to great rucking from James and Rhys we worked the ball through a couple of phases and Charlie was able to touch it down.
Alnwick had a couple of pacy wingers and they used the wide pitches to their advantage to score two tries. Louis was getting himself quickly to the breakdowns and passing the ball out which gave Ollie the chance to add another try for Novos, followed by a try from Alnwick and then another from Charlie. It meant that in the last closing minutes we were 3-3 but a last gasp sprint from an Alnwick player got him over the try line, final score 4-3 to Alnwick.

Our game against Percy Park was very close and a fantastic team effort that all the players contributed to. Just the one try this time for the White Knights from a brilliant offload from James Mre to Charlie and from then on there were tackles flying in a desperate effort to keep Percy Park away from our try line. Defensive work from Ben, Harvey and Louis in the middle of the pitch was helping keep some of the opposition at bay and try saving tackles from James, Ollie, Angus and Charlie made a huge difference as Park just couldn't ground the ball despite crossing our try line 3 times! The boys' spontaneous team huddle celebrations at the end spoke volumes about how pleased they were with the result, 1-0 to Novos.

Having recently played Morpeth we knew they were a strong side and recognised a couple of their strike runners. Again a very evenly matched game, Harvey and Angus made a couple of very good runs up the pitch and Finlay made a cracking tackle at close quarters to shut down one of the attacks from Morpeth. However, the young girl in the Morpeth team is difficult to stop and she shrugged off a few tackles and sprinted for the line to score. James My had already been in fantastic poacher form on the wing and had been thwarted a couple of times, however, the final time he sidestepped a couple of Morpeth players and ran the length of the pitch to touch down. Final score 1-1.

Our final game was against Tynedale who looked a bit depleted and when their coach told us they only had 7 players we asked for volunteers to take turns in playing for them so we could play 8 a side. Thanks very much to Finlay, Angus and Charlie who all did a stint playing for Tynedale. We also featured a couple of super-subs in Joe and Tom. Tom came on to great effect and made an immediate impact with a typical strong run through the middle to score a try. Likewise it was good to see Joe charging up the pitch shaking off all those who tried to tackle him! All morning James Me had been rucking, tackling and ripping the ball off the opposition and he scored a couple of very well deserved tries. For James My there was a foot in touch so unfortunately one try went begging but made up for it a few minutes later when a pass from Rhys let him get across their line. Thankfully a tackle from Angus stopped Charlie from scoring for Tynedale, but as we saw the end in sight it turned out Tynedale didn't need our help and they ran over 3 tries in quick succession. But the players were happy as the final whistle went it was a comfortable 6-3 win to Novos.

THE BLACK KNIGHTS – coaches Andrew and Jeremy

The Black Knights were: Dylan, Ethan, Fenton, Issac, Joe, Leon, Ollie Fi, Sam, Tom and Tomas. They finished off the season with an awesome performance at the County Cup. They demonstrated an excellent command of many of the skills they have learnt over the last 8 months, like rucks, mauls and that all important pencil placement.

Match 1 was against Ponteland. The Black Knights displayed brilliant passing skills – perhaps the best they have shown all year - and excellent offloading. There was a lot of Novos’ possession which was reflected in a final try score of 8 for Novos (3 for Ollie, 2 for Tom, 2 for Tomas and 1 for Joe) and 0 for Ponteland. The second of Tom’s tries came after he valiantly supported Ollie all the way down the pitch and was rewarded with a very gentlemanly pass from Ollie just before the line enabling Tom to complete the try.

Next up were Percy Park who were also defeated by our brave Knights without scoring a single try. More awesome offloading by everyone in the team, as well as some good, strong running, resulted in the Knights scoring 6 tries (1 for Ollie, 2 for Tom and 3 for Tomas). Great pencil placement from Fenton and a good strip from Tom were some of the notable achievements in the game.

Match 3 was a tight game against Morpeth which was good to watch. All the boys worked well together and engaged in some fantastic rucking. Once more the Black Knights didn’t concede a try and the final score was Novos 3 - Morpeth 0. Novos’ tries came from Ollie, after a great pick-up, Tomas with tackling busting running and Ethan after great patience and support work. Congratulations to Ethan on his first try for Novos’ – the celebrations were a sight to behold!

After that it was Rockcliffe’s turn to play against our determined team. This was another close fought match with some fearsome tackling from both teams. Although the final score was Rockcliffe 2 Novos 1 (another excellent try from Ollie), some might argue that it should have been a draw…

The penultimate match against Alnwick was another closely contested battle with the Knights coming up against some heavy tackling from the opposition. Issac was not intimidated by some giant opponents and made several weaving runs through them. There was some good rucking and an excellent take from Sam but the Knights were defeated with the final score Alnwick 3 Novos 1 (some great positioning from Joe G enabled him to score this try).

After playing 5 matches uphill, the Novo Knights managed to secure the sought after position of playing down the field for their final match against the hosts, Northern. This match saw them return to the form displayed in their opening matches. Ethan seemed fearless, going in with some excellent low tackles. and they won comfortably with a score of 5 (1 from Ollie Finlay, 2 from Tom W and 2 from Tomas) to 1.

Overall, the Black Knights demonstrated excellent teamwork. The try scorers have already been mentioned but there was fantastic support play from Dylan, Leon and Sam. As he has been all season, Isaac was at the heart of many of the scrums and there was great pencil placement from Fenton. The whole team were passing fluidly from the start and weren’t afraid to tackle the other teams’ players. They also displayed perseverance, determination and stamina, contributing towards Novos Knights as a whole being awarded the Spirit of Rugby award. Well done to them all – an excellent end to the season.

THE RED KNIGHTS – coaches Mike and Richard

The Red Knights team was made up of Billy, Daniel, George, James J, Josh, Max H, Max R, Noah and Samuel. The team were consigned to the far corner of the ground, but that did not overshadow the spirited performance of the team.

First up was Rockliffe who seemed to have grown a lot since our last encounter with them. The Knights, however, were undaunted. Samuel, Max H and George led the charge with a series of tackles and hard rucking in an attritional first half.
A quick pass from the bottom of the ruck by Daniel released Josh who made a great break for the Red Knights’ first try.
The second-half saw some excellent passing from Max R and James to the always alert Samuel and Max H. Rockcliffe defence stood strong and with some good counter rucking from them they scored two tries to add to their earlier one. Final score Novos 1 – Rockliffe 3.

Next up Morpeth, who are always a well-drilled side. The Red Knights began with great pace; a superb break from George saw him race down field but ultimately denied a try with a foot in touch.
Samuel, Max R and Max H chased down hard, but couldn’t stop a pacy Morpeth side scoring two tries in the first half.

The Red Knights displayed great teamwork. Good support from Noah and James J meant that the Red Knights were competitive throughout. The try was the result of great teamwork between Josh, Samuel and Max H, then with a final offload to George, he was rewarded with a try.

The third game was against Ponteland. Again a size differential to overcome (when will our boys grow?), but the Red Knights shone. Josh made a clean break thanks to a neat pass from Max R to go over for the first try.

Ponteland came back straight away and had almost reached the tryline when Daniel stole only to be immediately smothered by the Ponteland defence. He managed somehow to off load it to Samuel. Samuel weaved his way past two Ponteland defenders before running the length of the pitch leaving Ponteland and the team photographer to admire from afar.

George and Josh combined in a textbook display of rucking (check out the video). George stood firm and Ponteland couldn’t get to their own well-placed ball. Josh stayed on his feet to steal it and passed it out to Max H. Max H ran straight and too fast for Ponteland to catch him, excellent try.

Strong rucking by Samuel allowed Noah to pick up and pass to Josh who is always keen to run with ball in had and he went over for Novos’ fourth try.

Ponteland displayed good passing skills and replied with two tries of their own. The Red Knights were still not tired of battling. Strong rucking by James secured the ball for the Knights, a pass out to Max, who ran in for his second and Novos’ fifth.

The fourth match was against Tynedale. This was a close game. Good tackling by Noah prevented a certain Tynedale try. Good teamwork resulted in the first of Samuel’s two tries. His second came after excellent pairing and support play with George.

The Red Knights played the whole day with only one sub; very tiring on the large pitches. It began to take its toll and Tynedale eventually took the game 4 -2.

The final game was against a very good Northern side. The Red Knights battled against some great passing, offloading and distribution, but they never gave up. Samuel, Max H and George ran tirelessly at every Northern attack.

The Red Knights did counter attack several times but Northern used the touchline to good effect and getting turnover ball from which they scored. Northern proved too fast and strong in the end but the Red Knights battled without complaint to the end. They can be proud of the fighting spirit they showed.

The day ended on a high for the Novos’ squad. The County Festival is the only festival where a trophy is awarded. The Spirit of Rugby trophy is award to the team who best displays rugby’s core values: teamwork, respect, discipline, sportsmanship and enjoyment. Northern, as hosts, had to decide the recipient and generously award the Spirit of Rugby trophy to the Novos’ squad.

Season complete.