Novos ran in 7 pretty spectacular tries which cut through our defence - and we had very little response.

We started fairly strongly with Owen Westhorp and Jake Tennant threatening the Novos defence but, as has been a regular occurrence in recent weeks, a pass went awry which Novos nimble backs took advantage and crossed the line.

The next 12 minutes saw Novos run in 3 further converted tries.

Just before half time Adam Brown took a high ball and took off for the line he offloaded the ball to Adam Coates who set off on a now familiar “sprint” for the line only for the ref to deem it to be a forward pass - a look back at the video showed it had rebounded off of a Novos arm - oh well…..

With strong words and changes made - Aidan Jackson-Smith & Alex Barker replaced Coates and Atkins accordingly - we came back after the break in a higher gear. 

But when your having a bad day nothing goes right - a chip kick from Will Hilditch landed straight into the hands of Novos No8 and they added a further converted try.

We continued to fight back - Sam Heron got the ball within our own half and headed towards the line but the Novos defender knocked it out of his hand.

Novos added a further 2 converted tries in the next five minutes.

The last 15 minutes were all West - Max Tennant made a welcome return and crossed the line to score our only try.  We continued to pressure the Novos defence and despite several penalties there was no breaking through. 

In a last ditch attempt Alex Barker broke from the back of the scrum only to be held up over the line and the ref blew for full time.

The next few weeks are crucial with games against Medicals, Whitley Bay Rockcliff & Acklam before we head across town to Rovers - we’re sure that todays blip can be put behind us and we move on.