Both the 1st and 2nd XV lost out to a strong Gateshead outfit away from home last Saturday. The 1's went into the game with a strong squad but with quite a few players either injured or on holiday the depth in the team was affected more than we could have anticipated. And after a late drop out before the match, it left the team struggling even further with only a single substitute ready and waiting on the bench.

Coupled with our unfortunate issues of availability was the injury list we picked up throughout the day, key players such as Johnny McSorley, Fin Ruddock and Jonny Allton (to name a few) all unfortunately picking up knocks forced us to borrow players from the 2nd team game happening just next door. The players who did make the move across all went brilliantly on the day despite the very late notice!

Nonetheless we lost out to an impressive Gateshead side who, by the looks of things, will certainly be pushing for promotion into our league at the end of this season and we look forward to hopefully welcoming them, their warm hospitality, and the bath into the Counties 1 league in the 25/26 season.

As for the game itself, Novos were quick to get themselves onto the front foot and after a good bit of pressure and defence from the squad, Tom Westgarth bundled his opposite man past the dead ball line and into touch for a scrum 5 meters out. The front row held the pressure of a heavy Gateshead pack to allow Captain George Bambrick and acting scrum half for the day Max Cook to release debutant Sam Cleife on the blindside. However the scrambling defence from our opponents was good and Cleife was tackled into touch just a meter short of the line.

From there Gateshead began to find their feet a bit more and we slowly lost our hold on the early pressure we had created despite our initial good play. After a couple penalties allowed them into our half, the ball eventually landed into the hands of international sevens star Apisai Bavadra who somehow got his hands free in the tackle for a trademark offload to allow Gateshead to dot down in the corner for an early lead. 0-5

They would then go on to score shortly after, disjointed line speed and a slipped tackle or two opened up a huge hole for a forward to run through, going over unchallenged under the sticks 0-12.

However the next score would be ours, quick thinking from Lewis Chater from a tap penalty allowed us to settle back to our roots, and neat handling and offloading skills parallel to the touchline eventually gave Vinny Baker and inch of space to power past the remaining defenders for a try in the corner. 5-12 and everything to play for.

And then we started to really play. A line break from the midfield saw us work inside the 22 and string together the best multi-phase attack of the day, a real positive to take heading into this week. Both forwards and backs working well together to make progress on every carry, before eventually after multiple attacks at the line, Lewis Chater was stopped illegally following a tap penalty to prompt a penalty try from the referee. 12-12, however seemingly no yellow card was brandished to the offending player.

Into the second half and after falling asleep at kick off, Gateshead marched their way straight back into our half. Luckily not too long after that Sam Busby showed a touch of typical class to dart his way between about 3 defenders to score next to the sticks. 17-12 and for the first time in the game we had the lead.

Despite our early lead in the second half, things began to unfold in ways we weren't hoping for. Injuries seemed to plague us and after playing the final 20 minutes with players actually quite unsure which position they were in, things started to go downhill despite the great efforts displayed by the players who still remained as Gateshead ran in a hat-trick of tries to seal them the game.

So, a lot to work on following a disappointing first outing this season but still so much to be optimistic for heading toward Consett at home this Saturday before the start of the 24/25 season.

Final score: Gateshead 36 - 17 Novocastrians