With us sitting in 3rd spot in the league standings behind the Jesmond based side in 2nd, a full 5 points at home was enough to close the gap down to just a single point as the Christmas break nears closer. Opposite to how the weather had been the past few days, the game kicked off with fairly warm and still conditions, allowing for some awesome tries to be scored throughout the day.

We would start faster than in any game we have played so far this season. After kicking deep into enemy territory from the first whistle, the defense held firm against some expansive Medicals passing and eventually we won a turnover in the middle of the field through Fin Ruddock. In true Novo's fashion the penalty was taken quickly, and the ball must have gone through the hands of half the Novos squad, through a series of excellent offloads. Sam Cleife was loitering out on the left-hand touchline, and a great pickup allowed him to dive across for the opening score within 2 minutes. 5 – 0

Med’s applied a bit of pressure from the restart, but some consistent and brilliant maul defense from the likes of George Bambrick and Jeremy Hunt kept any threats at bay. Farley would eventually add an extra 3 points soon after rewarding us for our dominance in the early exchanges. After marching our way down the pitch after some penalties, a solid scrum and a series of pick and goes gave way for captain Bambrick to wrestle his way over the line to make the score 15 – 0 after a Farley conversion.

Medicals would strike back however, but in a way that seemed to confuse just about everyone on the pitch. After thwarting an attack, the ball seemingly went out of play and the flag was raised, after stopping to set for a lineout the game was judged to still be live, a hack along the floor went dead, but a late tackle from Archibald gave our referee reason to award a penalty try, despite some understandable pushback from the Novos side. Some confusion shortly afterwards resulted in a yellow card being brandished for scrumhalf Merlane after he was judged to have been responsible for the offense instead of Archibald. A very tough situation to call for our referee however given the speed at which it all happened, and it didn't help that the linesman was our very own David Lawson! 15 – 7 and now time to fix problems.

The spirit from the team was exceptional however as we won penalty after penalty through pure hard work over the ball. Three shots were made at goal, and after a quick change of kicker, Michael Searle stepped up to hit a long-ranged effort straight down the middle, a great way to null the pain of losing our scrum half by extending our lead. Merlane re-entered the play 10 minutes later without us conceding a single point.

We had the final say of a comfortable half, some excellent work from the pack sucked in the whole Medicals side around the ruck 5 meters out, and after some decisive handling from the backs, fly-half Josh Farley showed the ball and then went over himself to make the score an impressive 23 – 7 going into half time.

Our opponents would start the second half in the same way we started the first. Some early penalties gifted them a lineout 5 meters from our line and a strong maul was marched out to bring the scores closer together at 23 – 12.

We would reply straight after though, a scrum on the 22 allowed our backs to unleash a lethal strike move from short range, and after getting over the gain line, Ruddock was closely following the play to receive an offload allowing him to dive over for his first score in a Novos 1st XV shirt, a well-deserved score given his performance on the day.

Meds would score the next one as we went blow for blow, however an unfortunate incident off the ball after the try was scored resulted in a yellow card for Medicals and then a red card was brandished for Searle after what was said to be retaliation for the initial incident.

The work really began after losing a key player, but the team was response was good, another scrum move released danger man Harry Tankard in the 15 channel and he had the gas to beat the last defender and score to make it 35-19.

Back-to-back scores and conversions from Medicals soon after however brought the game to within 2 points after the re-introduction of their carded player and hearts were in the mouths of many Novos supporters.

But composure was with the home side, a penalty and a kick to the corner was enough to set up a solid maul, then after some great running from Lawson and Archibald, Jubb sniped a gap and went over to put the game to bed.

Final score: Novos 42 – 33 Medicals