A spirited effort against a top four side from last season, as Novos lost at home for the first time in 18 months.

We started the game with the wind at our backs and pinned Park in their own 22 with a big hit from captain, Ben Jubb. Whilst camped in their 22 we missed a few opportunities as our lineout failed a couple of times. We also sustained an early blow as Brandon Gilbert was injured just 8-10 mins in causing a back line reshuffle – wasn’t ideal to lose a centre as it caused a four man switch. Cam Wallace came on at 9, Rhys Merlane to a wing, Max Cook to 15 and Sam Busby took up Brandon’s role in the centres.

Before we could get up to speed Park made a line break and the put a kick through which sat up for the Park attacker as Cook came across. Nice try out wide for the visitors to take a 0-5 lead.

The boys responded trapping Park on their line once again. The gambled and moved the ball from sided to side but didn’t get round us. Their 9 then through a wild pass which Sam Busby ran onto and won the race to ground the ball. Conversion added by Sam Evans to put us infant 7-5.

From the kick off Sam Evans put us back in Park’s 22 where a huge hit by Sion Gittins caused a turnover. From a scrum win near the try line Rob Baldwin carried from the base. Sion Gittins, out of the scrum to carry into the Park forwards. Finally, Louis Matthews went again, bumped a lad then spun in another tackle to crash over. Conversion again added by Evans to push us out to 14-5.

We recovered the kick off and again we went deep into enemy territory where a huge hit came in from Ryan Gibson this time – another turnover. Louis Matthews went quickly from a penalty a few mins late and had Max Cook come ups in support. Couple of defenders beaten then a lift to Ben Jubb. Still 40m to the line but he rounded the 15 and ended off the winger in the act of scoring a great try. Novos now up 19-5.

In the last 15 mins of the quarter we were unable to push the score out despite breaks from Sion Gittins, Sam Evans and Ben Jubb. We did manage to add a penalty to make the half time score 22-5.

The second half was all Park as we lost possession early doors and invited pressure. A poor decision defensively allowed Park to score in the corner. Lead reduced to 22-10.

We responded well as Park wanted to get on the front foot. Sam Evans made another break with some outstanding footwork. Tom Taylor then picked and went at the ruck to make more yards. However, a pass went to floor and as we scooped it up we tried to continue the attack. The Park winger went between our two players for the intercept and sprinted 80m for a real momentum swing. Conversion added 22-17.

The lads really struggled to wrestle momentum back of back in the first 20 mins. Not long after that intercept try we conceded a penalty and were back on our line. Park drove the maul in and we collapsed it on the line. Penalty try awarded and Ryan Gibson sent to the sin bin. Park into the lead again, 22-24.

Park then scored a pretty soft try as Sam Busby looked to have stolen the ball at a ruck. A side clean out kept them in possession and we then missed 2-3 tackles as a Park player bike the line. 22-31 and the game was going away from us.

Novos conceded far too many handling errors in the third quarter of the game. Allowing Park’s 10 and 15 to pin us back into our 22m.

Park were dominating possession and got a soft penalty to again get an entry into our 22. Again, Park scored from a rolling maul. Conversion added to make it 38-22.

Whilst the game seemed done the Novos boys showed great team spirit to try and pick up losing league points. We won a scrum penalty after Park had changed their front row. This was followed up with a tighthead at the next scrum. Louis Matthews was causing chaos with his trademark carries – bouncing lads off and refusing to go down. Another quick tap taken by Ben Jubb and he received a high shot, the ball found Matthews again. He went through a hole vacated by a Park player who was attacking Jubb instead of defending. Matthews put the ball down under the posts as two separate melees occurred. Yellow card issued to a Park player for not being back ten. Sam Evans converted the Matthews try, bonus point for 4 tries with the score at 29-38.

Sam Evans made his third or fourth line break out of our 22m but we couldn’t link up and the ball was turned over. Max Cook cleared their prop out of the ruck to which he naturally took umbrage to as its a bad look for a forward. Another skirmish broke out as the Park player was on top of Cook. Rob Baldwin came in to the rescue as Cook took a couple of slaps to the face. Baldwin and the Park prop were yellow carded.

The game was restarted and we made a line break but Sam Busby was whacked off the ball and could not get up in support. We didn’t manage to score but the ref went back for the penalty. No yellow card for the hit so 14 on 14 we decided to go for the posts to get the losing bonus point. Unfortunately, the kick went astray and the game finished 29-38.

A spirited defeat to a side that finished in third place last season. We have to take the lessons from them if we want to continue to compete with the top four. They were much better at keeping the ball for long periods. We were often too loose with the ball and threw 50/50 passes that they did not try. Park’s lineout functioned on a very windy where as we struggled, trying to win ball at the front which was always contested.

However, we showed great fight to battle back and get a bonus point and were unlucky to not get the losing bonus point as well. Can’t grumble at 10 points from three games. Next week we head to Upper Eden where we will seek to pick up more league points. Huge effort at training needed to get ready for another difficult game.

Thanks Yannick for reffing the game – a good day with the best side winning the fixture. Difficult last 20 mins when both sides started misbehaving ! We hope to welcome you back at Sutherland Park in future league games.

Big week at training lads so get down, get Heja done as we have three fixtures ahead of us. Up the Vos !