WELCOME It give me great pleasure to welcome Novocastrians back to Acklam Park after a gap of almost 50 years. They were due here 22 years ago but the game fell victim of inclement weather, preventing us watching former Scottish international Jim Pollock at fly half; one of my enduring memories is seeing Rory Underwood scorch past him for a superb try when Gosforth were our visitors. When we last met in the late 60s we won 29-7 with a team including Phil Horrocks-Taylor, Alan Godson, Ian Wilkie and Vernon Bowles – and in those days our opponents were Old Novos.

Old Novocastrians RFC was formed in 1899 by a group of former pupils of the Royal Grammar School, Newcastle upon Tyne. In 1922 they opened membership to old boys and their friends, and then in 1969, at low ebb, they decided to open the club to general membership, dropping the “Old” from its title to become Novocastrians. In 2012 Novos were relegated into DN 2 but bounced back into DN 1 at the first time of asking. Last season they finished in tenth place, one behind Medicals, our previous visitors, winning nine of their 26 games. (And I must apologise for the blip in our first programme, when the 2014/15 table relating to DN1 was duplicated for Y1.)

They have, however, begun this season in the best possible way, with three perfect 5-point wins in the league, walloping Darlington 59-0 (who conceded an astonishing 92 points at Stockton last week) and Horden 66-19, both at home, sandwiching a 34-25 win at Consett; they also beat North Shields 53-14 in the County Cup. That makes an impressive 178 points scored in three home games, or 212 in total in four games. Horden report that Novos outplayed them in every area of the game other than the set scrum; that their forwards were fitter and faster to the breakdown and they were an attacking threat all along the back line; that they ran in some excellent tries but were gifted four of them by Horden trying to play expansive rugby, leading to interceptions. Interestingly our very own Aedan Moloney was MoM for Novos.

Incidentally Gordon Pargeter, our President, is himself an Old Novocastrian, having been at RGS from 1955-1963. He played for Novos from 1962 until 1976, at wing forward until, by his own admission, he got too slow and moved into the second row. He joined Middlesbrough in 1983 and played in the B's & XB's in the second row, with the odd run out in the 'A' team, before hanging up his boots in 1986. He then refereed with Yorkshire for ten years.

LEAGUE RUGBY What a chaotic start to the game at Ponteland last week! Accidents on the A19 grid-locked traffic to the point that I'm sure the team bus moved two inches in 35 minutes, two of players didn't arrived until after kick-off and we started with a second row on the wing and a prop in the second row – all of this after our selected scrum-half and his replacement both cried off. As a result we were just a little disorganised for the opening few minutes and we were quickly 3-0 down. However we quickly recovered and a fast break led to Rhys being held up illegally to earn us a penalty try, converted by Toby Tremlett. That settled the jitters and we scored three more ties, two converted by Jack, and a bonus point to make the half time score 8-26. After the break we shipped another penalty, wiped out immediately by a drop goal from Jack, and then added another five tries, with conversions by Jack, two from Liam Baxter and the last one by Bellers, adding the kick to the last-minute try he'd scored from a simple interception. In total Rhys crossed four times (and should have had five instead of that penalty try), Bellers scored three with one from the forwards courtesy of Ash. The final score was 18-62 – a scoreline which actually led to Ponteland moving up a place in the table! One last comment. That whipper-snapper Peter Wright had declared himself unavailable for selection but in view of our problems (one scrum half in Canada, one not well enough to play and yet another working) he made a special effort to get to Ponteland to take the field for the second half – and it was his 300th 1st team game for the Club to boot! Many congratulations Peter; watch this space for details of a special presentation to him.

It was good to get a comprehensive win and blow away the frustrations of the Medicals match. which was a most unusual affair. Losing Matty Todd to injury in the warm-up seemed to throw us off our stride and we were seldom out of our own half in the first quarter, although we never looked likely to concede a score. We then notched up tries by Ali Lang, Brad and Rhys to take a 20-0 lead into the break. We were in total control and I confidently expected a good victory with a bonus point. How wrong was I! For the first 20 minutes or so, we again dominated possession and territory, but we rarely looked like scoring. And then with ten minutes remaining Medicals scored a try, followed five minutes later by a second to make the score 20-12. Rejuvenated Medicals hurled themselves at our line in search of a losing bonus point; they almost got it, but in the final minute they missed a penalty in front of the posts.

So we have three wins and 14 points from our opening fixtures, but instead of bemoaning the 'lost' bonus point we should reflect on the fact that seven players have made their 1st team débuts this season, including two more Colts to add to the five blooded last season. It takes time for players to properly integrate but the team is beginning to bed down as a settled unit, which bodes well for the rest of the campaign.

OTHER MATCHES The results made happy reading last Saturday, with one of the best results being the defeat suffered by the Colts against Wharfedale! The score line was mighty close, 24-29, for which our young men deserve great credit. They have had to cope with players leaving, including being encouraged to move elsewhere, but have shown remarkable character in their two games (the first against Mowden Park).

The Wasps continued their absolutely cracking start to the season, beating West Hartlepool
34-19 last week. There was outstanding performances from, among others, Colts Ben Worthy the flying winger and scrum half Jay Ellis, plus Frenchie, making an impressive and very welcome return to our numbers after his long lay-off. This follows their win the previous week at Horden; there is a brief report on the Horden match by Jonno on p4 and a fuller one on the website. Let's hope they can keep the momentum going today against Durham City. Meanwhile the 'A' team were at Stockton on Saturday, where they won 37-0.

JUNIORS In the limelight this week are Tony Linklater and our U14s. Congratulations to them on their flying start to the season. Having opened their account with a superb 27-10 win at the stronghold known as West Park Leeds they then beat Harrogate 14-0 in a tense and competitive match. On Sunday the boys completed a hat trick of victories with an overwhelming win at Thirsk, who, despite being in the early throes of building a side (this is their first season together) stepped in when scheduled visitors Malton & Norton had other opposition and we thank Thirsk for that. Thirsk didn't lack enthusiasm, passion or commitment, and their never-say-die attitude did them great credit. The U15s followed their 45-17 win over Harrogate by scoring 32 points to 17 against Whitley Bay Rockcliff last week, whilst we enjoyed a hat trick of wins at home when the U17s beat Gateshead 50-0.

CLUB NEWS It gives me great pleasure to report that Ross and Lauren have a baby girl, Heidi Isobel McNeill, born on Monday afternoon, weighing 5lbs 8oz. Lauren and Heidi are both doing well. Congratulations to the happy couple and to the very proud Colin McNeill, our Chairman, and his lovely wife Moira. Heidi is their first granddaughter and joins grandson Fraser in the House of McNeill.

REFEREE'S CORNER I am delighted to welcome Steve Penfold back to Acklam Park today. He has previously taken our games against Durham City three years ago and then our last home match of the 2013/14 season against Cleckheaton. At that time he was studying at Leeds to be a lawyer and I am pleased to report that he has now qualified. Steve is an ex-army man who went to Cranfield University, playing rugby for the University, REME and the Army U21s at hooker. He has been a referee for almost 20 years. I hope he enjoys his time with us this afternoon.