This County Cup tie was a much closer contest than the scoreline suggests but, the Centurions never looked like winning by the 32 point margin necessary to qualify for the final.

A failure to find touch with a penalty saw Novos take an early lead, moving the ball rapidly from the left wing to score in the right hand corner. The response was immediate with Jason Armstrong and Henry White carrying well. Andy Harvey cleverly switched to Ryan Laverty and non-stop flanker Will Jonas appeared to keep the move alive. Oliver Hillary was on hand to touch down with Dan Kerr adding the conversion.

The Centurions front row of Michael Ramsay, Robbie Binks and Lewis Sparke always held the upper hand in the scrum and were unlucky to be penalised for an early push as Novos took one of many backward steps in this area. A quick tap saw the fluent Novos backs in again for a converted try.

The Tynedale scrum exacted some revenge, making ground and allowing lively scrum half Harvey to feed Kerr. The fly-half still had work to do and crashed through tackles to score a fine try under the posts before adding the points. A defensive scrum was driven well but the Novos number 8 rescued possession and showed good pace to touch down. The successful conversion saw the home side lead 19-14 at the break.

A lack of discipline early in the second half allowed Novos to stretch their lead with a penalty goal and, a converted try just after a flowing move involving Seb Jansen, Dan Heppell and Ali Hopps had almost led to a Centurions score.

Tynedale were still well in the game and a sound tackle by Spencer Tolley allowed Martyn Hutton and Jonny Pape to make good ground and win a scrum near the Novos 22 metre line. Arin Pekdemir broke well from the back and Kerr was on hand to score his second.

In the last five minutes Novos brought on two pacey wingers who each scored a breakaway try to produce a convincing winning score that did not reflect the huge contribution made by the Centurions in a full-blooded Cup-tie.