Last Saturday saw Novocastrians take on Ryton in a hotly anticipated fixture, at the fortress that now is Sutherland Park. After only beating the travelling side narrowly both home and away last season this matchup was always bound to be a thrilling contest, especially considering Ryton’s recent winning streak and our disappointing performance last week away to local rivals Ponteland.

The game started fast and physical as fly-half Lewis Chater kicked the ball deep into enemy territory on his 100th 1st XV appearance. A much larger Ryton pack seemed pretty well drilled on their gameplan for the day as the bigger lads crashed the ball up through the middle, but some excellent and energized Novo's defense kept the attack at bay and kept our opponents pinned down with some smart kicks.

It took a good 25-30 minutes to break through for the first score however, some relentless pressure was initially dealt with well by Ryton, but as an overthrown lineout hit the floor it almost seemed inevitable that Novos would get the first points of the day. Some heads up thinking from Jonny Allton allowed him to hack the ball through the defense and with nobody at home, Ben Jubb was able to dive on the ball under the sticks to score the first 5 points of the day. An easy conversion for Michael Searle gave us a 7-point lead.

Ryton managed to find their feet in the final few moments of the half, and after we gave away a penalty for a high tackle, the fly-half stepped up to convert the 3 points and make it a 4-point game going into the second half. A low scoring affair so far for Novocastrians standards but with signs that we had a lot more to give in the second 40.

On came Jonny Cotterill for his debut in the second row, and Josh Farley and Rhys Gibbons also entered the fray.

The second half kicked off and after some neat interplay among the squad we managed to make some good yardage down the field, taking advantage perhaps of some tired Ryton bodies. A nice touch from Cotterrill on debut opened up the pitch finding weak shoulders in the defense, and after spending the first 10 minutes inside the opposition half, a nicely worked set play from the scrum found space for Harry Tankard to make an outside break. We quickly recycled and found Sam Busby back on the inside, a quick juggle of the ball and he managed to dot down out wide in the corner. 12 – 5.

It would be Sam Busby again to score back-to-back tries and grab our third score of the day, after some more nice handling on the far touchline, a late, high shot gave us the advantage and a free ball to play with. Josh Farley took the invitation and took the ball to the line to eventually release Sam Busby into a gaping hole, the full back could easily do the rest and glided into the same corner he scored in just moments ago.

A final attack from Ryton was thwarted, as a maul was successfully defended on our line, pretty much securing us the win. The final play of the game came about not too long after as we found ourselves trying to stop our opponents securing a losing bonus point in the 80th minute. A Ryton scrum deep in our half looked to be dangerous but then a huge effort from our front row gave us a penalty and gave us a final chance of grabbing the 5 points.

A lineout 20 meters out was secured, and after a nicely worked move Rhys Gibbons found some room in a tiring defense to release Ben Jubb who had a clear run in for the line and the bonus point.

An immense team effort on Saturday to bounce back from the disappointment of last week's loss and secure Sutherland Park. A great result from the 2nd XV as well who came up 61-0 winners at home too.

Final Score: Novos 24 – 6 Ryton

Training resumes tonight and Thursday ahead of an away fixture to Rockliffe.

Up The Vos!