All 3 of Novocastrians men’s sides took to the pitch on Saturday and put it in 3 emotional and spirited performances across the board to celebrate and honour the life of a well loved member of the club. The 1st XV came up short to league leaders Sunderland 10-12 in a hotly contested showing on pitch 1. The 2nd XV were 28-5 up at halftime against Sunderland’s 2nd XV but unfortunately let things slip in the second half and eventually lose 28-33 despite an awesome first half showing. The 3rd XV however came up victorious by a fine margin against a Gosforth 2nd XV side, making Jack proud in a performance the team can be very happy with.

The 1st XV fixture was one of those fixtures that could've very easily swung either way, but credit to Sunderland who look completely set now to win the league title on their performance. Whilst we felt that we were dominant for most of the fixture, the defense inside the 22 from the away side was something we just couldn't break and led to the eventual scoreline.

Novos kicked off the fixture towards the car park and smothered the Sunderland attack for 5 minutes, smashing anything and everything that ran their way. Eventually the ball was turned over and after some energizing and dominant carries over the gain line, Josh Farley lined up an opportunity from in front of the sticks and converted for the opening 3 points of the game.

The weather would play an unfortunate role in our downfall however, after tussling back and forth with the Sunderland XV, a well executed 50-22 had us pinned down on our own 5-meter line eventually conceding the scrum. Trying to battle on one of the boggiest areas of the pitch was near impossible for our front row and after giving away an advantage George Bambrick took one for the team for hacking the ball out of the moving scrum. David Lawson, who ultimately had an outstanding game was unfortunate to be the victim of a second yellow card as the referee awarded a penalty try despite the Sunderland number 8 grounding the ball over the line. A harsh decision at the time we thought as it ultimately contributed to us conceding the second try of the game.

Despite being down to 13, the lads defended valiantly, but a well rehearsed Sunderland outfit were eventually able to pick off the overlap and score a second. Despite being down to 13 we still ended the half on top, a penalty was awarded 40 meters out and we opted to run the clock into the red with a tricky penalty kick. Farley’s kick fell just short, and we headed into half time down 3 points to 12.

Despite Sunderland not scoring another point in the remaining 40 minutes, we just weren't able to string together well worked opportunities to be converted to points. 2 or 3 chances from short range were squandered after working so hard to find ourselves in the initial positions.

None other than Rob Baldwin, however, would finally bundle his way over the line for a last-minute try, Farley slotted the conversion and Sunderland were shown two yellow cards for the final 60 seconds of the fixture. So here it all came down to, Sunderland hadn’t had a sniff of our line for the whole half and all the momentum was now with us. One final opportunity presented itself out wide but like many things on Saturday, things just didn't quite go our way. A slippery ball was fumbled, and the result was the end of the game.

Final Score: Novos 10 – 12 Sunderland

A real game of attrition in the end with both sides going tooth and nail right down till the final whistle, but eventually unbeaten Sunderland ended our impressive run unbeaten at home. We go again however next week against old rivals Ponteland at home for the second week in a row.