Novos Juniors 20 - Seghill Juniors 45
Apr
Seghill Juniors travelled to Novos seeking revenge, after Novos dumped them out of the County Cup earlier in the season.
Seghill, who have produced some fine performances in the latter stages of the season, found themselves facing stiff opposition from a Novos side which fielded a much heavier pack and fine back line.
In the early stages, possession was even, as both sides looked for a weakness in their opponents. It was only when Seghill stole the ball that the deadlock was broken, with Dean McPhee running through to score under the posts. Mickey Blewitt confidently added the conversion.
A period of intense Novos pressure followed, but Seghill turned over the ball. A rare fumble by Matthew Sherman gifted the ball back to Novos, who drove over to score.
With their lead cut to two points, Seghill were straight back on the attack. The ball was played quickley across field to Nick Heard who, after a surging run forward, popped the ball off to Liam Lonsdale to score Seghill's second try.
>From the restart, Seghill drove forward again, but when Mark French tried a high, looping ball to put Heard free, Novos intercepted and looked certain to score. Blewitt and Lonsdale combine in the tackle and Novos knocked on.
>From the resulting scrum, French picked up the ball and ran down the wing. Only a fine tackle stopped him short of the try line. With play in the Novos 22, Seghill continued to drive forward and Heard scored under the posts. Blewitt again stepped up to add the two points, to give Seghill a commanding 19-5 lead at the break. Though they were forced to replace their big second row, Kris Bowen, because of a shoulder injury.
The coaches fired up the home side during the interval, and they caught Seghill napping at the start of the second half, going over for a try in the corner.
This woke Seghill up, and McPhee produced another strong run into Novos half. The home side managed to turn over the ball, but their possession was short lived, as Sherman won it back for Seghill. The ball was popped out to Alex Anderson who ran in the fourth try for the visitors. Anderson then had to be replaced as he was injured as he scored.
Despite falling further behind, Novos wouldn't give up, and forced Seghill back. When John Peace strayed offside, Novos played the ball across the field and were rewarded with a third try.
From the restart, Seghill pushed forward and won a line out. Hooker, Andy McLean played the ball long to Heard, who ran in his second try of the day.
After a period of scrappy play, when both teams knocked on, the ball broke free and Heard collected the ball on the half way line, and shrugged off the tackles to get his third try. Again, Blewitt added the conversion.
Captain, Craig Smith then had to be replaced, and Seghill had to reshuffle the backs, as French moved to scrum half. The reorganisation didn't appear to have any adverse effect, as another Seghill attack soon followed. Only a fine tackle by the Novos fullback prevent Lonsdale from adding another try for the visitors.
The home side defended well, but finally Seghill scored again, when McPhee broke through for his second try. It was a much more difficult kick for Blewitt, but he coolly slotted the ball home.
Novos got a late consolation try, when their big prop forward held off three tackles to score, but Seghill ran out worthy winners by 45 points to 20.
