Match Report by Jack Pellew, 3rd Team Captain

A Rugby World Cup Semi-Final win for England against the All Blacks, or Novocastrians 3rd XV going 3 in a row unbeaten. We’ll let you decide which is more impressive.

Leading up to this game, Novocastrians 3rd XV had won their last two games, including a County Cup QF win against Medicals Serpents last Saturday. Confidence was high, and even with the high number of unavailable players this weekend, we still managed to get 4 Senior Men’s sides out on the same day – an incredible feat for any club in the currently climate. Novocastrians 3rd XV would be playing once again in the unbeaten Alpha Recovery Ltd shirts, hoping for this winning streak to continue.

This would be the third game against Northern Panthers so far this season, with Northern winning the friendly at Sutherland Park by a single point (19-20) on Sept 7th, but Novos returning the favour the following week by winning the opening league game with a 10-17 away win at McCracken Park.

Jack Pellew was fortunate to be able to select a strong squad again this week, with the experienced Tom Dias dropping down from the 2’s, the returning Tim Hart playing his first game back since his injury in pre-season and other key players such as Neil Spence, Gus Nye and Fraser Green making the match day squad. Rob Strange made his long overdue return to the Novos shirt with a short but promising second-half cameo on the wing, and new recruit Robert Preston stepped up to take the 6 shirt as Teesside Tom Harwood pulled up in the warm-up (but valiantly played the first half for our 14-man opposition).

Northern won the toss and elected to kick off, so Captain Pellew immediately chose to play towards the club house end first half, leaving the Novos Rules downhill advantage for the second half on tired legs. From the kick-off, Novos were on the ball immediately and an early penalty conceded by Northern gave Pellew a chance to kick to the corner. Novos then spent the best part of the half camped in Northern territory. Wave after wave of attack could just not be finished, and frustrations increased as the forward pack were dominant at scrum, line out and in the loose.

Novos built the phases well, with Spence and Crowson carrying hard. Strong scrummaging from the front row of Pitchford, Dias and Forbes (a late call up from the bench after John Watson was unable to make the game) gave a superb platform for Novos to build from, and some good attacks just seemed to fall short at the final hurdle. It wasn’t until 25 minutes when the deadlock was broken and Ulsterman Justin Taylor sniped through a gap and dotted down to the right of the posts. He was speechless after this moment of brilliance, although it subsequently transpired that he winded himself on grounding the ball. The very easy conversion was almost guaranteed, but Pellew hooked it wide deliberately to try and keep the game even.

He was back after completing the GRTP protocol following a concussion in the away win at Northern back in September, but Neil Spence had clearly (successfully) dodged the warm up and suffered a twinged hamstring. As he limped off he was replaced by James Coles, another player just back from injury. All these injuries - this is like Lewis Chater’s autobiography.

Half Time – Novos 5-0 Northern

Team Manager Andy Croft, fully stocked with the usual pint of Guinness on the side-line, decided to make no changes at half time. The team were disappointed – 40 minutes of possession and only one solitary try to show for it. They knew what they needed to do, and words from Pellew and Dias set the game plan from the kick off.

A short, hanging restart was gathered by a chasing Novocastrian, and progression towards the Northern try-line resulted in a score for young openside Gus Nye. Novos Rules added the automatic conversion; a nice bonus that would apply to all Novos scores in the second half. Shortly after, a good “pull” call from Jonno Martin put width on the attack, and when Fraser Green was put in space there was no stopping the young speedster, who crossed to open his account for the day.

Tom Dias had an excellent all-round performance; his line-out throws were on point, he scrummaged well and carried hard. However, the highlight of his game was when he took his chance against ex-Novocastrian Adam Longstaff, and folded him like the bedsheets of a five-start hotel. As a reward, he was the benefactor of a powerful rolling maul from a lineout, with the men in red, black and white going the distance and Dias flopping over the line after steering the ship into the harbour.

It was a good day for the back three, with winger Jay Hayes diving over in the corner after a good collection of phases from the forwards crated an overlap. Fraser Green added a second, jumping over would be tackler Adam Longstaff and darting into the corner.

Credit must go to Northern for never giving up, and their 12 ran hard and scored a couple of tries, albeit quite against the run of play.

A dramatic bout of cramp from Ben Silk (who had played out of his skin turning ball over for fun) brought Neil Spence back into the game, alongside Rob Strange making his playing return after an extended period of early retirement. It was great to see Strange back on the pitch, and he put in a solid defensive performance.

In the closing seconds, Novos were awarded a penalty. A quick tap and “top speed” run from Pellew saw him throw and sell a huge dummy, draw the last defender and put Tim Hart over in the corner to score Novos’ 7th and final try for the day.

Full time Novocastrians 3rd XV 47-12 Northern Panthers.

Man of the Match – It was another week for the forwards to graft, and while every forward put in a huge shift, the stand out performance was from resident Vegetarian and owner of a mint dog, Ben Silk.

Richard of the Day – Fraser Green. His speedy running and avoiding contact blessed him with 2 tries, but if there ever a day for a hattrick it was today. DoD for Jug Avoidance and an absolutely terrible chop.

Thank you to Michael Bayley for refereeing the game. A relatively easy afternoon for him with no foul play and two teams wanting to play rugby, but he kept the game flowing as much as possible and that is all we can ask for at this level. Good luck with the rest of your season Michael.

Even after his poor attempt at the yard of ale last week at Medicals, Ryan Crowson was back for his final game in a Novos shirt as he departs the North East for pastures new. It has been an absolute pleasure to play alongside Ryan over the last season and a half, and we wish him, and his wife Jade, all the best in their new life in South Yorkshire. He will be keeping one eye on the calendar for the Cup Semi Final against North Shields Crusaders on Saturday 29th February.

Next week – we have a game scheduled against Blaydon Development, but in lieu of the RWC Final in the morning, we are in discussion with the club to try and postpone all games on Saturday. Update to follow, but the club will be open from 8am next Saturday, so please get yourselves along to cheer on a big England win against either South Africa or Wales (it’s 9-16 to SA as I type).

Photo credit: A Blythman