Steve Gittins and Andy Croft will lead the band of merry men down the Coast Rd to take on Rockcliff. Our opponents flagship side has been relegated, so they will be looking to end the season on a high.

Novocastrians 3rd XV will be desperate to get to the final in two weeks time and extend what has been a good season. The squad is finely balanced with a few golden oldies, some of our returning uni lads and a couple of lads making a rare appearance in a Vos shirt.

In the front row waits Dom Burns - in his debut season, just a few months into the game, he has won man of the match in the last two games. On the far side of him will be the teams captain in Ian Wood. Separating these mountain men will be the guile of Rich Zabrocki.

Incredibly there is more power behind them in the form of Sean Hamill and Michael Scott. The tight five will be sure to work hard at scrum time or get the wrath of scrum guru Jonny McSorley - extra scrum coaching going into the boys recently at training.

To counter the big lads we put some willing runners in the back row - all three converted backs as Alex Histed and Dylan Parr will be hunting the tackle count leader. James Bass completes the pack - Bassy has loved his conversion to the forwards and will cover every blade of grass.

The backs look pretty special with Alex Douglas and Christian Selkirk calling the shots. They will task Lex Leonard and Oliver Harris with winning the gain line battle. The back three again shows real balance with Takreem Faheem back from uni to play. The other wing sees Will Pink grab a shirt - a very good player who has played well enough to play for the twos a couple of times. The starting fifteen is completed with Adam Longstaff - a 3rd team stalwart this season.

With a semi on the line we have had an abundance of players make themselves available. As such, we have had to leave out a few lads new to the game and the club. However, the likes of Henry Pacey and Robert Li are making loads of progress at training and will hopefully play in the tourning game next week. In addition, Arthur Wallis and James Forbes have also been left out as the scrum looks solid enough already.

However, Ben Stockten returns from uni to take a front row sub spot - with further pack support from Shaun Stewart and Ewan Dare. Then a few hybrid lads with Stewart Wilson and Rohan Cook who are incredibly versatile in play anywhere roles. The 21 man sqaud is completed by Ben Hawkins who will provide out and out backline cover.

Should be a great game with a few 1st teamers dropping down to try get the win for Rock. We ourselves have around 8 lads who have donned the 1st xv shirt in the last ten years.

Up the Vos !