After a thorough pitch inspection by the coaches of both sides and the referee, the players all came to a mutual agreement to play on through the conditions despite the downpour of rain and wind. A decision that we eventually found out was not shared by the rest of the league, with only our game and Rockcliff Vs Horden going ahead on the day.

But huge credit must be given to players, coaches and supporters alike for powering on through and allowing the game to happen, it surely made the beers up in the clubhouse afterwards taste that little bit better!

We kicked off the game with the wind and rain slightly to our advantage as Lewis Chater kicked off towards the far-right corner by the entrance and proceedings were underway. Naturally, Novocastrians found themselves applying early pressure to the visitors who struggled to clear their lines in the early exchanges, however after going back and forth up the pitch for 10 minutes we would score the opener. Some neat handling through both the backs and forwards allowed Ben Jubb to slide in for the opener near the far-left touchline.

Tankard, dealing with some unpredictable wind, stepped up and slotted the conversion from out wide to a round of applause from the balcony to make it 7-0.

However, perhaps against the run of the play and the weather, Bishop Auckland would score the next try to reply straight back at us. After playing a bit too much with the ball inside of our own half instead of clearing our lines we conceded a string of penalties and allowed our opponents to use their bigger lads to use their sheer size and strength to muscle through from 5 meters out to score a try which was also well converted. 7-7 and the game was even.

The rest of the day would go all our way however, after playing some smarter rugby for the remainder of the half and using a strong kicking game we managed to force turnover ball inside Bishop’s 22. And whilst we did provide width to the ball at times in our attack for some nice go forward, it was eventually none other than Rob Baldwin who would muscle his way over the line to get try number 2 despite some impressively aggressive and stubborn defense.

The backs would link up again for try number 2 after some more hard work from the forwards in the mud. After winning a penalty advantage, Alex Douglas provided Lewis Chater with the ball from the base of the ruck and after selling a couple of dummies he finished well on his return to the squad to make it 19 – 7 after another Tankard conversion.

A very quick chat and huddle in the slightly warmer changing room at half time provided us with the information we needed to get the job done. Josh Farley and Rhys Gibbons entered the fray at half time and made a great impact on the game, providing line breaks and clean ball at lineout time.

We got the bonus point secured around 5 minutes into the start of the half through George Jowitt. A line break in midfield meant we could play on top of the tiring Bishop side, and after feeding it through the hands, Jowitt had a defender to beat in the 15 channel but was able to barrel through him with ease to score the try that would ultimately confirm a 5 point win for us at home.

Full Time: Novos 24 – 7 Bishop Auckland

Up The Vos!