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It was a game West really had to win to stay in the promotion hunt but for once it was the defence that went wrong, particularly in that first half. Credit must be given to Morpeth who played some excellent rugby and certainly showed much better form than their league position suggests. Perhaps the 'Jinks factor' has been to blame for that, as their points-machine has been missing for several weeks through fire brigade training and he returned to action with an 18 point haul.
The game had started with some good West tackling, forcing Morpeth back and winger Gav Painter went on a mazy run but lost his footing at a crucial moment when it looked like he would round the full back to score. However it was the visitors who opened the scoring with 7 minutes gone. Dangerous winger Peter Cole broke several tackles down the right and with the defence sucked in Jinks capitalised on the overlap. His own conversion came back of the post.
West battled back though and eventually got a try 18 minutes into the game. They had spent a long period in the visitors 22 but mistakes at crucial times had prevented a try being scored. A 5 metre scrum gave the platform for the score with Davy Tighe making the break and feeding Chris Lambert to go in at the corner. Paul Moss' touchline conversion gave West the lead.
That lead would only last a matter of minutes as another break from Cole set up Alan Rodgers to score. West would be disappointed with the tackling but Morpeth were keeping the ball alive very well and playing some of the best rugby seen from a visiting side this season. The form continued with another try just after the half hour mark when more missed tackles proved costly and the try was scored under the posts. With both conversions in front of the posts the score was 19-7 to Morpeth and nobody could argue it wasn't deserved.
West kept in touch with a try just before the break. Some 7s like rugby eventually created space on the right where good hands from Greg Edwards led to Dan Boatman going in for the try. Moss couldn't repeat his touchline conversion but it was an important score for West, who had at least managed to convert two 10 minutes periods of pressure into two tries but the defence needed to improve.
The second period began just how West would have wanted. A tap penalty was taken to replacement Carl Robinson who burrowed over for a try but the simple conversion to tie the scores sailed wide. With the hosts two points in arrears Jinks again showed his value with two very long range penalties that stretched the lead and kept West at arm's length.
With time running out for West new recruit Neil Howe came on in the centre with Gav Painter moving to fly-half. It was a gamble but seemed to liven things up behind the scrum and presented a different challenge for the Morpeth defence. With 70 minutes gone Lambert got his second try in an almost identical move to his first from a short scrum and with the visiting forwards looking out on their feet, hopes were high for a comeback win.
But try as they might West couldn't break Morpeth down and crucially dropped a few passes which needed to be held. The final nail in the coffin, or so it seemed, was a penalty from the half way line by Jinks with 40 minutes on the clock.
The referee was adding 2 minutes for stoppages and West set about the task of needing a converted try to win. They marched up the field with Morpeth time and time again killing the ball cynically and being penalised by the official. Prop David Dickinson was yellow carded but West just couldn't break that final line of defence. The game was up when they were penalised for holding on 5 metres out from the line and Jinks hammered the ball into touch to cue the celebrations.
The loss is a severe and probably fatal blow to West's promotion hopes, and the prospect of a trip to leaders Middlesbrough in two weeks hardly helps things. Some positives can be taken from the second half display and the fact that West outscored the visitors 4 tries to 3. The traditionally strong defence was far from it's best though and needs to improve, and quickly. There will also be some selection issues to resolve with Tom Dixon having another good half as a replacement and Gav Painter and Neil Howe looking lively as a 10-12 combination.
West: Hare, Lambert, Edwards, Hodgson, Painter, Moss (Howe), Tighe, Carr, Cullinane, Norris (Robinson), Rudd, Miller, D Boatman, Myers (Dixon), J Boatman.
Tries: Lambert 2, D Boatman, Robinson
Con: Moss
Sinbin: Carr
Morpeth: Wilkinson, Cole, Jinks, Hills, Rodgers, Parker, Reynolds, Goodfellow, Thornton, Dickinson, Forsyth, Hutton, Morrison, Watson, Walton.
Reps: Harper, Pringle, Shippen
Tries: Jinks, Rodgers, Hills
Cons: Jinks 2
Pens: Jinks 3
Sinbin: Hutton, Dickinson
Referee: Colin Tovey [Yorkshire Society]
Related Links:
Team for Morpeth
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Author: MikeyBoy
Date: 04-12-06 09:15
This result is a big blow to our season.
I thought Morpeth looked like a very good side, particularly in attack, their backs looked sharp and obviously a kicker who can knock over any penatly in the opponents half is going to make a big difference.
The missed tackles that led to their tries were very disspointing. Other than that, west didn't look to bad, as shown by the fact that we were still in with a chance at the end to nick it. The main difference was that morpeth finished off any opportunity they got where as west seemed to need 10 minutes of pressure in the opponents 22 before a score would eventually come.
When Howe came on as a blood replacement in the first half and knocked it on twice - things didn't look to good for him, but I thought he did very well when he came on for good in the second half. Finally we had someone in the backs running onto the ball purposefully who looked like they had an idea of what they were going to do before they got the ball in their hands.
The same could be said of Gav Painter when he moved to 10 - he looked very lively. I don't think Stubbs would move him there permanantly, but there could be an argument for moving him into the centre to get the ball in his hands more often, especially seeing as Greg Edwards did a good job when moved to the wing.
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Author: West Park Allotment
Date: 04-12-06 10:45
Their kicker was the difference in the end. Their backs were good but I think that was our front 5's most ineffectual showing for sometime.
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Author: Foot Up
Date: 04-12-06 17:40
No complaints with the result, Morpeth scored more points than us on the day....:-|
I think we were tactically naïve on Saturday....:-/
With the wind blowing down the pitch why didn’t we use it to play rugby in the Morpeth half of the pitch. We score after sustained pressure in the Morpeth 22. They restart, we have the ball and try to run it out of our 22, loose the ball and Morpeth score....%-)
I know the lads are trying to play attractive rugby and run the ball but there is a time and a place. We had the advantage of the wind and didn’t use it to gain position....:-|
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Author: MikeyBoy
Date: 05-12-06 09:36
I agree foot up. I know stubbsy wants us to be a running team - but we want to be sensible about it at the same time. Having said that, we've never been a good side at using the wind
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NEXT FIXTURE
Westoe
VENUE
Away ko 3.00
DATE
October 11th
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