A last minute Ryton win against Bishop Auckland sees us try chase them down this weekend. Our rearranged game is Medicals away where we will try and hold onto the McQuillin Jug we won back in late October.

The side is in a good place after our National Cup win last week. The pack is unchanged, with the only alteration in the starting line up being Sam Busby starting from the off. In addition, Sam Evans comes back into the 18 after being rested last week with a minor knock.

February is where we need to set up the season run in. We have a difficult month with Meds away before we host Horden, Medicals again in the cup before finishing the month off at Stockton. If we can get to March still in the hunt then we can perhaps pip Ryton in the table.

We will be lucky enough to finish the season with three out of our four games at home whilst Ryton have the reverse including ourselves, Medicals and Durham Uni away.

Shaping to be a tight race to the finish line with Medicals (3rd) Horden (4) Stockton (5th) and Durham Uni (6) all still having ourselves and Ryton to play again.

So get down to Medicals on Saturday to support the boys - 1400 kick off.

The 2's have a huge home cup match against Northern. Not ideal to see almost 30 lads on the unavailable list for the 2/3's. However, the fixture sees the return of several big game players. In fact, only three of the 18 man squad have not played first team rugby.

Look out for the return of Johnny McSorley, James Moore, Ross Radford, George Jowitt, Sam Bird and Adam Lambert into the squad. Should be a great game against a second team who's first team sit top of the league above us.

The 3's host Nth Shields, so look out for the return of Tom Craven. The second rower has been out all season due to injury. In addition, Max Mallon also puts a shirt back on after a nasty shoulder injury at the end of last season.

So a lot of rugby to look forward to as we try to stay unbeaten as a men's section in 2026 .

1st XV to play Medicals away, meet at Meds 1230 for a 1400 kick off
Tom Taylor, Sion Gittins, Morgan Scrace, Andrew Kirton, Jonny Cotterill, Rob Baldwin, George Bambrick, Dylan Gittins (Captain) Cameron Wallace, Josh Farley (V.Captain) Max Cook, Michael Searle, Harry Tankard, Sam Cleife, Sam Busby, David Medjigbodo-Lawson, Louis Matthews, Sam Evans

2nd XV to host Northern, meet at 1215 for a 1330 kick off
Johnny McSorley, James Moore, Harry Mason, Oli Taylor, Owen Hayton, Jez Hunt, Simeon Archibald, Ross Radford, Christian Selkirk, Matthew Russell, Ross Cleminson, Sam Bird, Sam Brooks, Harvey Gadsden, Adam Lambert, Sol Mak, Dan Morosan, George Jowitt

3rd XV to host Nth Shields, 1245 meet for a 1400 kick off
Ian Wood, Chris Thompson, Stevie Thompson, Tom Craven, Alex Henry, Rufus Thwiate, Jack Bowman, Josh Smith, Ted Old, James White, Ben Hawkins, Tom Storey, Louis Oliver, Jay Turton, Max Mallon, Rich Zabrocki, Michael Scott, Evan Dare, Alex Fawcus.

Up the Vos !

Photo courtesy of Chris Brown - Novos pack dominated Stockton at scrum time on Saturday in their 30-7 National Cup win.