Novos 61, Acklam 36 - Try Fest

Novocastrians ran away with this result early doors scoring 47 almost unanswered points in the first 40 minutes, before Acklam clawed back into the game during the second half in what was the wildest game of the season so far.

The two teams shared three yellow cards between them during the course of the 80 minutes as well as a hat-trick of tries scored by Novo's within the course of five minutes midway through the first half.

Sam Busby kicked off the scoring after Acklam failed to put the ball 10 metres from kickoff. George Bambrick opted for the scrum and the ball was shipped to Busby who outpaced his opposite man, before putting in a convincing dummy to place the ball underneath the sticks with only one minute on the clock. Michael Searle added the simple conversion for an early 7-0 lead. From the subsequent restart some dominant Novos carries from Dylan Gittins and Louis Matthews marched the team up to the home sides 22. After some spirited Acklam defending Lewis Chater spotted space in behind the defensive line and a well-executed chip and chase put us up 14-0 after a second Michael Searle Conversion. Confidence was running strong throughout the squad and the first 10 minutes couldn't have went any better.

Just as Novos settled into the game however, Acklam seemed to have turned a new leaf and after some aggressive carries and a slick offloading game the inside centre powered over from close range to keep Acklam within touching distance of a result. As the minutes continued the game continued to open up with both teams clearly more focused on capitalising on mistakes to counter attack. Novocastrians would prove after 20 minutes played to have won the battle after they secured the game through a hatrick of scores in 5 minutes. It started with Searle crashing under the posts from a superb Dylan Gittins offload close to the Acklam line. The next one came from the very next kick off after none other than the super back row of Dylan Gittins, Louis Matthews and George Bambrick all linked up superbly with some strong carries eventually getting George Bambrick through a gaping hole. One man to beat and he put away Brandon Gilbert who was running in support to make Novos more comfortable. The next try was a carbon copy of the previous except Jeremy hunt replaced Louis Matthews. He would make the line break, supporting Dylan Gittins once again before releasing George Bambrick to reward him for his work.

The teams would share the spoils of one more try each before the conclusion of the half, a spilled ball found its way into the hands of scrum-half Ollie Towe who identified the space in behind after the opposition's full-back knocked it on. A well-judged kick sat up on the try line for the opportunistic Sam Busby to fall on to secure his second score of the day. Acklam scored through an impressive display of keeping the ball alive and away from rucks through some pin-point offloading. After getting in behind Novo's defense they kept their foot on the accelerator and punished Novos out wide through their winger.

That would conclude the first half and Novos would win it quite comfortably 47 points to 12. The challenge in the second half for us was to try and stop Acklam from scoring 4 tries, something they have proved to be very efficient at all season. They started the second half the strongest and after forcing a penalty from us after some ill-discipline, Sam Busby was then rightly yellow carded for not being back 10 from the attempted quick tap but strangely, a penalty try was awarded despite about 10 other defenders being in the proximity.

We would bounce back stronger however, despite being down to 14 men we kept the ball nicely carry after carry wearing the clock down to be back to full strength. After a mismatch on the openside was spotted Ben Jubb made a line break, supported by George Bambrick, Sion Gittins and Brandon Gilbert, some slick handling and eventually Ben Jubb was released to score under the sticks to reward him for his initial linebreak.

Acklam then scored a quick brace after an interception and a first phase play from a scrum try to make the final scoreline more respectable and probably a better reflection of both team’s performances on the day. Full credit to Acklam for some brilliant rugby played at times demonstrating why they have scored so many points against some big top 4 teams so far this season and thank you for and best of luck for the rest of the season.

The next game for the 1st XV is against South Shields on the 17th at Sutherland Park so that means no game for the 1st XV next week however there may be a social in the works for the club this Friday night so keep an eye out for any further information on that.

Up The Vos!