Novocastrians welcome Hartlepool back to Sutherland Park this Saturday in the first meeting between the two sides since March earlier this year where we ran out victors. However, a new season not only brings new teams and faces but also new challenges to be dealt with, and whilst in the past we have performed very well against Hartlepool we will need to be at our best to ensure we come away with an important full 5 points.

Injuries and unavailability hasn’t been too kind to us this week, but the depth in the squad means that when a player drops out, another of equal ability can come straight in to replace them.

Captain George Bambrick misses the action this week due to personal commitments, however the return of Darren Kelly in the back row means him and Fin Ruddock can tidy up any mess around the park.

Johnny Allton remains out of the squad to monitor a shoulder injury, but as a result Richard McNeill gets his chance in the second row to impress. Having had to wait a fair amount of time to make his 1st XV debut it will be really exciting to witness the physicality he can bring to the team on Saturday.

Ant McQuillin also returns this week to replace the unavailable Tom Taylor, and partners with both Morgan Scrace and James Moore who had an excellent time in the scrum last week.

The backline remains relatively unchanged from last week’s as Michael Searle continues to follow concussion guidelines . Aside from that, regular winger Max Cook comes back into the side to drop in at scrum-half in the absence of Rhys Merlane.

Josh Farley will be in the starting XV to resume duties in the 10 shirt after Alex Donaghy put in a great stint in his absence in the first half last week, scoring 7 of our points in the first half. Donaghy’s unavailability this week however opens up the door for Brandon Gilbert to grab the final spot in the backs on the bench after missing out the past couple of weeks due to outside commitments.

Joining Brandon on the bench we have some real strength and depth to cover multiple positions. Ollie Forster takes up the 16 shirt and can comfortably cover the hooker channel and the back row if need be, and Simeon Archibald takes 17, a back rower who also had a fairly long and impressive runout in the centers against Darlington a couple of weeks ago.

So, despite some minor setbacks in the player pool this week we have the means to cope with it, given the brilliant depth of the squad as a whole, ready to get on the hunt for a full 5 points against a relatively unknown opposition.

1st XV vs Hartlepool
Meet Time: 13:30
Kick Off: 15:00
Ant Mcquillin, James Moore, Morgan Scrace, Theo Mouille, Richard McNeill, Fin Ruddock, Darren Kelly, Rob Baldwin, Max Cook, Josh Farley, Cam Harvey, Ben Jubb, Harry Tankard, Sam Cleife, Sam Busby, Ollie Forster, Simeon Archibald, Brandon Gilbert

3rd XV vs Houghton
Meet Time: 13:45
Kick Off: 15:00
Ian Wood, Arthur Wallis, Michael Scott, George Poole, Jeremy Hunt, Adam Longstaff, Rohan Cook, Sylas Douglas, Christian Selkirk, Louie Birkett, Max Mallon, Lex Leonard, Dan Vicary, Josh Barnes, Luke Masters, James Douglas, Zach Weatherhead, Iain Kane, Solomon Mak, Sean Hamill, Lewis Chater, Tom Storey, James Forbes, Craig Logue, Alfie Bowman, Owen Reece-Jones