Novos 17, Rovers 20 - A Game of Two Halves

Novocastrians came into this game full of confidence coming off the back of a huge high toppling title contenders Sunderland 32-31 at home, just a week prior to a disappointing outing in Hartlepool.

We arrived full of confidence on a dry day as the clouds seemed to settle just before kickoff. We spoke before the game about not allowing the opposition a foothold in the gain line battle and stopping any momentum they may get.

Neither side started the stronger with quite a few dropped balls and missed tackles, the first 10 minutes were scrappy, with both sides trying to dictate the way the rest of the match would be played. Novos looking to enforce their running and offloading style of play whereas Rovers reverted to their typical approach of taking us on through the middle.

Novos won the battle of the first half and opened the scoring through Rhys Merlane, a strong carry allowed Jeremy Hunt to make a line break 40 meters out before giving a specular offload, the ball was eventually taken to the fullback and fed back inside to the looming Merlane who was able to dive under the sticks to make it 7-0 after Lewis Chater added the extras.

Novos were able to pin Rovers down for the majority of the rest of the first half, fronting up on the tackles and slowly allowing the game to be played at our pace. The efforts paid off as the pack marched downfield awarding the backs with a penalty advantage, the ball was shipped out wide through some slick offloading and ended up in the hands of Brandon Gilbert who calmly finished in the corner from 15 meters out, and we went into the break 12-0 up.

We spoke at half time about targeting rucks on our own possession as Hartlepool were particularly effective at turning us over on first phase ball and we were not up to the task of matching them.

Despite the final score line, the second half started as perfectly as Novos could have hoped for. Louis Matthews made a huge line break straight from the kickoff and marched us up to the 22. Novos were awarded a penalty for a high challenge on Matthews which was taken quickly and passed through the squad to Rhys Merlane who was taken down 10 meters out. Quick thinking from Johnny McSorley to play back on the blindside from the base of the ruck to Eoghan Phillips who offloaded the ball brilliantly to Brandon Gilbert again to bag his second try of the day, 17-0 and spirits were high in the squad.

Perhaps our confidence was too high after this score and after a bit of complacency we began to make some unforced errors deep into our own half and gifted Rover's possession deep into our 22. Eventually after taking advantage of some tired bodies, we allowed them to play to their strengths and they powered over in the corner to make it 17-5.

The second try came from similar mistakes after Novos failed to clear their lines knocking on deep inside the 22 after lacking support in the rucks after a short kicking battle between the two sides. From the resulting scrum the 12 made a dominant carry and a couple more carries led to a second try to make it 17-10.

Two knocks to both Lewis Chater and Sam Busby left us without two key players operating at their best and after some neat work from their backs Rovers scored another try and a quickly following penalty to bring them 3 points ahead going into the last 10 minutes.

We looked somewhat lost but still full of character as the game drew to a close, after winning several penalties near the posts we opted to go for the lineouts. A tough decision for captain George Bambrick but one backed by the entire squad as we refused to settle for a draw. Novos had one final opportunity to grab the game at the death, but the resulting maul was halted by some questionable play from their pack, and we were unfortunate not to capitalise.

Final score, 20-17 to Hartlepool Rovers. An impressive second half from a team that has had a rough start of the season and will be looking to save their season after a poor start. We wish them the best for their final games.

Onto a huge fixture at home to Ryton next week where the squad will be looking to right some wrongs in front of a home crowd when 3rd takes on 4th in a highly anticipated matchup.

Up the Vos !

Report written by Ben Jubb