Away at Alnwick. P6 W5 D1!

Alnwick. Away. 15/12/13 – Report by John Liddell

Novos MA 3: Dan Neill, Ryan Crossley, James Hepburn, Matthew Hayes, Niall Boothroyd, Flynn Christian Norris, JPL, Reece Wilson & Tom Steele.

A travelling squad of about 30 Novos players arrived in Alnwick on a cold crisp morning and set up camp on an exposed pitch that had more lumps and bumps on it than Coach Mark Russell’s head, and where the wind seemed to be blowing in every direction at once. Even the sheep in the next field were shivering, and they had their woolly jumpers on.

As is becoming the norm, Novos significantly out-numbered their hosts and were split into three mixed ability teams, with Alnwick mustering two.

Novos3 kicked off against Alnwick1 with a plan to play a quick attacking game through the middle. Right from the whistle Novos were pushing up the pitch, not giving their opponents anytime on the ball. With less than a minute on the clock Ryan pushed through two defenders and forced the ball over the line. Another try quickly followed with Tom receiving a neat pass from the ruck to run in unchallenged.

Alnwick mounted a few attacks but most were quickly cancelled out by a united Novos defence. Text book tackling from Dan, Tom and JPL combined well with Ryan and Matthew’s rucking and James H, Reece and Niall were always on hand to ensure the ball was quickly recycled. Matthew and JPL had soon grabbed tries, both resulting from great team work in the middle of the park. Against the run of play, Alnwick managed to pull one back to make the halftime score 4-1 to Novos.

Flynn came on in the second half and made a huge contribution with some inch perfect passing and darting runs up field. In an attempt to close down the Novos attack, Alnwick were channelling all their power through the middle of the pitch but thanks to James Hepburn’s skill with the pass, Novos were able to take advantage of the space out wide with JPL collecting a long ball before running through the defence to make it 5-1. James H got a deserved try of his own after picking out a pop pass from Niall. Alnwick kept up the attack and managed to grab one of their own just before time, but the final score of 6-2 to Novos told the story. The visitors had dominated the game and the four try lead was well earned.

The second game of Novos3 verses Alnwick2 kicked off within a few minutes of the first. Alnwick started brighter and scored first. James H quickly levelled and the game soon became a physical contest with both teams battling it out in the middle The ever alert Dan snatched a spilled ball and dodged through the Alnwick line, running in unchallenged to give Novos the lead. The visitors began to pull away, matching the physical play – Ryan’s skill and strength in the ruck deserves a special mention - but also introducing the skilful passing game worked on in training the previous week. Both Reece and Niall did especially well by putting the training into practice and passing out of the tackle on a number of occasions.

A series of passes that seemed to involve the whole team eventually found Tom in space who sprinted along the touch line to make it 3-1 and just before half time Dan made it 4-1 with a diagonal solo run through the defence. Alnwick dug deep in the second half and pulled back a try, while being denied another by a brave last ditch tackle from Matthew, who injured himself in the process and had to leave the field. Novos missed Matthew’s presence in defence and Alnwick soon scored another.

Tom dropped back to close the gaps and normal service was resumed. With a series of dummies Dan managed to draw half the Alnwick defence in before floating a perfect ball to a waiting JPL who shouldered his way through the remaining players and scored. It was end to end stuff in the closing minute as Alnwick grabbed another try before James H lobbed an outrageous looping pass that wrong footed the whole Alnwick team. Dan saw it early and charged up the pitch, not having to break his stride as he collected the ball and ran over the line to close the game down at 6-4 to Novos.

Two great results and an all-round performance against physical, competent opposition show just how well this team is progressing. Novos3 Player of the Week goes to Dan Neill for a commanding performance in the middle of the park during both games. Well played.