Sunday 31 January 2016 saw two Novos U10s teams grace the Falcons Festival. Team 1 (Rachel & Mike) We played 4 games. Due to limited opposition (are we that good?) Penrith were played twice. Our day panned out as follows: 1 Game: Novos v Penrith This game saw us cruise home comfortable winners with 8 tries to 2. The usual suspects were on the score sheet in this game. We had an early wakeup call after we conceded a try in the opening minute but we very quickly found the right gear with some silky smooth running from James Moore to put us level. Just after the restart we regained possession which saw Joe ‘Bulldozer’ Grant scythe his way through the opposition in his typical ‘I’m going to get to that try line and nobody is going to stop me’ style. We then piled on the pressure and it was heartening to see, (after some bellowing from the touchline), some good rucking and in particular from Ollie Fo who on two occasions cleared out the opposition to lay bare the ball and for us to take which on one occasion resulted in a nippy off load to James Moody to cross the line. We did on one occasion let our guard down (shabby tackling me thinks) and gifted a try to Penrith more or less from restart with them only having to complete one pass before their try scorer was straight up the middle unopposed to touch down (tut tut). Still, this galvanvised the team and as is seemingly customary 3 tries were bagged by a very slippery Charlie Nagel. We restricted Penrith to those two tries which is down to some excellent tackling and a long defensive line preventing the opposition in advancing. This paid dividends as James Moore was passed a peach of a ball from Max H who had expertly snaffled it from the opposition allowing him to show a clean pair of heels down the wing and over the try line. In the closing stages we were again witness to good tackling from James Moore and further turnover rucks from Ollie Fo and Max H which allowed James Moody to round off game one with our eighth try. Game 2: Novos v Hawick Surprisingly this game was far more closely contested. The wee nippers from just across the border put up a lot of resistance and due to their diminutive stature ran in three quick tries. The boys however stepped up to the mark with some superb tackling and support play from Max H and text book rucking from Rhys and Harvey enabling Max H to run in our first try followed v quickly by a brace from Charlie rounded off on the stroke of full time with a try from Ollie Fo which was set up by a ‘blast’ in a ruck by Fenton which enabled Leon to collect the ball and dart off putting half the pitch behind him before off-loading to Ollie for that all important winning try (Even Max R made a cameo appearance). It was good to see the early morning rucking session set up by Rachel paid off! Game 3: Novos v Westhoe Having seen Westhoe play Hawick earlier we thought we would have had our work cut out for us, they were a well drilled side having buried Hawick well and truly. As it turned out, things could not have been more different. The boys took to their task (it was all down to the Coaches ‘fear of God’ speech of course) and prevented Westhoe from dabbing down at all, allowing us to run in 5 tries (Max H x1, Ollie Fo x2 and Charlie x2). This game produced some superb rucking and tackling from all the boys with special mention to: Rhys for some sound support play and when with ball some agile evasion skills; Leon for his straight running right up the middle of the opposition (‘charge of the light brigade’) and James ‘Man of Steel’ Mre with some fearsome rucking and tackling. Game 4 : Novos v Penrith Our rematch and decider for straight wins. This was a superb game to witness evidenced by a tighter score line but still a win (4:1) for us. Penrith tried to take the game by the scruff but we held on with some text book defensive lines and solid tackling by all who played. The rucking worked with some noticeable calls of ‘Anchor’ or ‘Blast’ followed by an identifiable scrum half again evidenced by Rhys with some little darting runs. Two points during this match are worth mentioning. Firstly, Penrith were gaining ground and had shipped the ball out along a good attacking line and looked certain to cross the line for a well worked try but in steps Max H, rips the ball from the try bound Penrith played and does not just canter off down the pitch, he leaves everybody for dead – not a soul in sight and dabs down then runs back to the middle even before Penrith were back on side - see it just goes to show rugby players come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The second point of note was our last try just before the end of time. Charlie N collected the ball and with his usual sniping and darting runs amongst the opposition set off for the chalk line. He broke through the opposition and could have claimed the try for himself but on his shoulder to his left, in support all the way, was James Mre. With a deft pass (backwards) James gathers in and touches down (don’t think you’d see that in footie too often). All in all a good Falcons Festival despite the limited / shortened Sundays available due to the weather. In a closing note, one of the opposition parents/coaches thought we were a good well drilled side and liked the way all the boys worked together. He enquired if they were at the same school as they all seemed to understand and talk to each other. He and another also commented upon how polite they all were! Vitat et in equitibus!