Last Saturday Novocastrians travelled to Rockcliff RFC and experienced probably the last of the decent weather before we turn in for the colder winter months.

Playing on the artificial turf, and with not a drop of rain in the sky, much to the disappointment of many of the lads' ankles and knees, conditions were almost perfect for free flowing, try scoring rugby. And a lot of try scoring we did!

Sam Busby and Rob Baldwin both now hold the top 2 spots in the league for tries scored this season and it's shaping up to be an awesome contest between the two to see who can come up on top!

Baldwin was the first to kick off the scoring on Saturday, after the full 15 put some great pressure on the home side we were awarded a scrum. Baldwin picked from the base and was able to splat over the line after some impressive scrummaging from the front 3 in Tom Taylor, Ben Rodgers and Morgan Scrace.

Busby would respond not long after however, as we scored another try straight from a scrum. A nicely worked move from the base resulted in Busby going through a hole in the defense with a great running line to score under the sticks, Searle converted his second of the day and it was 14-0.

Try number three came from yet another dominant Novocastrians scrum. After winning the push the ball spilled out and some neat interplay from scrum half Merlane and Baldwin eventually led to the ball being worked out wide to the other wing, through Chater and then Searle, Ben Jubb was then able to walk over for a great team try.

5 minutes later we almost scored an easy contender for try of the season! Out of nothing Tom Taylor, on his return to the squad after injury made a line break 10 meters out from our own line after a series of pick and go’s. His pass found flanker Darren Kelly who put in a perfectly weighted kick that Greg Wills was able to beat his man to. One more pass from the resulting ruck and we would have scored a stunner, but after a cynical penalty was given away by the opposition the attack was thwarted. Only momentarily however, as from the resulting tap penalty, big Jonny Allton smashed his way through the would-be defense to reach out for a score.

Rockcliff would not go without a fight however, some poor defense from us and a strong run from their inside center led to a smart grubber kick bouncing up for their winger to touch down and give the home side a glimpse of a comeback.

We would reply soon after though, after some more good defense in the opposition's half, we stole a turnover and took a quick tap to play on top, the centers then combined again and once more Jubb was the beneficiary of some nice handling.

Rhys Merlane would round off the half after another scrum move gave us 7 points. Him, Baldwin and Busby once again combining, doing the basics superbly to eventually lead to Merlane getting the ball back and dotting the ball down for his try.

Rockcliff would score again after we were switched off from the restart and the half would end with us leading by a comfortable margin. HT: 49 – 12

The second half would be a bit of a tighter contest, but tries from Sam Busby, Rob Baldwin and Ben Jubb allowed us to maintain a pretty comfortable lead heading into the final moments of the fixture. With the Novos points record still sitting at 96 from a game in 2004, breaking that achievement was probably just too far out of reach on the day but a day of try scoring and running rugby was definitely successful!

Full Time for the 1st XV: Novos 77 – 26 Rockcliff

The 2nd XV also had a performance to be proud of, after taking on a strong Tynedale 2s side with only an evening's notice away from home, they stunned the opposition in the first few minutes, scoring a stunning try. Almost inevitably, however, the most experienced Tynedale side were able to run out eventual winners, making the final score 24 – 7 to the home side.

Finally, the 3s put in a great shift away from home. After taking on the Tynedale Centurions in the Dave Strange memorial fixture they came up victors with an impressive scoreline of 29 points, to Tynedale's 19.

A great day for the whole club as we all got together at the end of the day in the clubhouse, to share a beer and celebrate the life of a great member of Novocastrians in Dave Strange, who was remembered so fondly by all those who knew him.

NO TRAINING TONIGHT!
TRAINING WILL RESUME AT DAME ALLAN’S ON THURSDAY EVENING