Ashington arrive at Sutherland Park for this senior plate match currently placed 5th in the league below us. They beat Redcar last week so will land in fine spirits and wanting to give a good account of themselves. Despite a lot of their players departing at the end of the season it has been great to see the club continue - putting out multiple sides and have a winning start to the season. Fair play to all those involved behind the scenes.

Novos are not in a bad state either at the moment - sitting top of the table, national cup advancement and three sides out regularly. Great occasion today with three sides out at home - opportunity to be social !

We do see some changes, some forced due to injury - Lewis Chater, Cam Wallace, Jez Hunt and the unavailability of co captains Ben Jubb, Dylan Gittins as well as several other noticeable absentees. However, this gives an opportunity to recall the likes of Louis Matthews, Adam Lambert, Sam Cleife, Ant McQuillin, Brandon Gilbert and Max Cook into the group. In addition, the squad is delighted to see Sam Evans make his debut. Evans arrived and made an immediate impact on the group. Sadly, he was injured his first match for the club and as such his new clubmates have had to wait six weeks to see him make his first team debut.

The front row is unchanged from a dominant performance over Stockton. Tom Taylor and David Medjigbodo-Lawson prop up both sides of the scrum with Sion Gittins nestled in between. Owen Hayton moves up from the bench this week and will want the team to do well against his previous club. His partner in the boiler room is Jonny Cotterill - in his first full season of adult rugby the 18 year old is going from strength to strength.

Just one change in the back row as Louis Matthews comes back in - his energetic love for the game will be in full flow. Rob Baldwin slides back into his eight role from last season in the absence of Dylan Gittins. Baldwin will be keen to get in carry after carry in attack and a couple of bangs in defence. The trio is finished off in the way of George Bambrick. He has looked back to his best this season.

Rhys Merlane maintains his nine role after being on the score sheet last week in our 71-19 win over then second placed Stockton. He will want to get off a successful start with Sam Evans at ten.

In the absence of co captain Ben Jubb we see Michael Searle and Harry Tankard in the midfield. Great to see Adam Lambert and Sam Cleife back on the wings this week after fine games for the twos last week. The squad is completed with Sam Busby at fullback who has been untouchable this season with line break after linebreak.

This weeks finishers are Ant McQuillin, Brandon Gilbert, Max Cook and Josh Farley.

1st XV to play Ashington at home, 1400 kick off, 1230 meet.
Tom Taylor, Sion Gittins, David Medjigbodo-Lawson, Owen Hayton, Jonny Cotterill, Louis Matthews, George Bambrick, Rob Baldwin, Rhys Merlane, Sam Evans (1's debut) Adam Lambert, Michael Searle, Harry Tankard, Sam Cleife, Sam Busby, Ant McQuillin, Brandon Gilbert, Max Cook, Josh Farley

2nd XV to play Morpeth at home, 1300 kick off, 1145 meet.
Johnny McSorley, Alex Cokeley, Morgan Scrace, Ross Radford, Oli Taylor, Ben Walker, Tom Westgarth, Dan Morosan, Christian Selkirk, Matthew Russell, Ewan Dryden, Sam Bird, Brandon Gilbert, Luke Masters, Harvey Gadsden, Rufus Thwaite, Tom Granville, Ben Hawkins

3rd XV to play Rockcliff at home, 1400 kick off, 1245 meet.
Ian Wood, Rich Zabrocki, James Moore, Owen Blackburn, Eddie Mason, Jack Hutt, Louis Oliver, Stewart Wilson, Ted Old, Ben Trotter, Jay Turton, Mark Hemmings, James Bass, Jack O'Brien, Sam Woodall, James Forbes, Andrew Robson, James Snoad-Speck, Adam Longstaff

Throw back Thursday info from our club historian Chris Ward.

Head to head - 69 games played for 40 wins and 1 draw. Our connection with Ashington goes way back to Feb 1907 when we lost 8-11 to Ashington and Hirst Utd. Our first game against Ashington was in Oct 1933, a 11-0 home win. There were other notable games - a cup win in March 1934 14-3 in the senior cup, March 1982 another cup win 19-15.

Our last game was a 79-7 cup win in the plat August 2017. On the score sheet that say were current players Sam Busby and Lewis Chater - 5 tries between them out of the 13 we scored.

2nd XV - last time out 24-29 loss at home February 2025. Our last win was a 49-19 away score line in November 2023.

3rd XV - last time out a whopping 7-94 loss in September 2022. Our last win was in February 2019 in a 29-24 win.

Up the Vos !