Novos 24, Ryton 17 - Big Win

Novocastrians hosted Ryton on Saturday as 3rd place took on 4th in a game that could flip the league positioning with only 7 games left of the season, this one was a huge one for both teams.

Newly promoted Ryton had a disappointing performance away to Acklam last week losing 29-12 whilst Novos travelled to Hartlepool Rovers losing out 20-17. Both teams had everything to lose and everything to gain and as Novos kicked off into the wind, what was set to be a scrappy but emotional affair got underway. We put the first points on the board through Micheal Searle around 5 minutes in, as a few direct carries eventually earned Novos a penalty from 20 metres out which he drove low and hard against the wind between the posts. 3-0.

Ryton would then go on to control the next 30 minutes scoring 3 unanswered tries with nothing but a second Searle penalty on the half hour mark to keep us within fighting distance. The first try came against the initial run of play as Novos were awarded a scrum on the halfway. Some confusion between Rhys Merlane and Rhys Gibbons resulted in the ball coming straight out the other side for the Ryton 8 to pounce, some brave covering tackles from Sam Busby and Lewis Chater stopped them momentarily but an offload found its way to their winger to fall over in the corner to make it 5-3.

Ryton found themselves with the momentum and with Lewis Chater removed from the field of play after the score, on came Ollie Towe to replace him at fly half, using our only backs substitution within 10 minutes. Ryton’s next two scores were pretty similar, after some hard-fought defense Ryton crashed over twice, adding 12 more points onto the board to make the score 17-6 after 30 minutes. After an emotional and heated talk under the posts we came out firing desperate to keep ourselves in the game before half time. After turning the ball over from the kickoff, the early replacement Towe executed a great chip and chase pushing up to the 22. The forwards took control and dominated a larger Ryton pack for at least a dozen phases of strong carrying before Micheal Searle picked the right moment to pick from the base of the ruck to bundle over the line. He added the extras himself and took the score to 17-13.

The wind dropped somewhat in the second half, but we still had it at our backs, and with a determination to make amends for last week's drop in standards in the second half, Novocastrians outworked the bigger Ryton lads for 40 minutes to keep them scoreless in the second half whilst scoring one of their own. Notably, Tom Taylor, Dylan Gittins and Louis Matthews made multiple big hits and turnovers deep inside the Ryton 22 resulting in a 3rd penalty for Searle to slot over the posts bringing us within a point.

The next score would be ours again, one of the best team efforts seen at Sutherland Park came from a scrum on our own 22, the ball found its way to Brandon Gilbert and Sam Busby on the touchline who made some great metres on the far side. The ball was worked back inside through the forwards and backs with some intricate passing skills and hard running right on the hour mark. Everyone on the squad must have touched the ball in the 5 minutes of buildup play. The ball eventually found its way wide to Ben Jubb who crashed over from 5 metres out to be the beneficiary of an outstanding team try.

After working hard for another 10 minutes we put 3 more points on the board to take the difference out to a converted try with only 5 minutes left on the clock. Some more big hits in defense for the final minute resulted in a turnover and we kicked the ball out for a deserved victory bouncing back from last week.

We take on Ponteland at home next week, training on Tuesday at Dame Allan's and at the club on Thursday, a big turnout needed to finish the month on a high.

Also, Burns Night will be this Saturday after the home game. £17.50 for a full 3 course meal served at 7pm and the bar opens at 12pm. Last chance to buy tickets is Tuesday 23rd – it's bound to be a great night so please message Nick Cotterill for more details.

Up The Vos!