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It was an intriguing contest at Brinkburn between two sides who, over the years, have always been quite evenly matched and generally produce a good game of rugby. Today proved no exception.
Driffield played with a deceptively strong breeze in the first half and in the opening quarter looked like overpowering West with their forwards looking rampant in the loose and the backs threatening with the ball in hand. However bar a seventh minute try from winger Richard Anderson the West defence held out and as the half went on the home pack grew in confidence and came back into the game. Paul Moss had opened the scoring with a penalty prior to Anderson's try.
With all Driffield's dominance only producing 5 points West had every reason to be encouraged and with some good sniping breaks from Paul Williamson they started to build a platform for attacking. Andrew Hare pushed a good grubber kick through to the corner but it was well marshalled by the visiting defence. As in the opening two games the rolling maul was a dangerous weapon and West were occasionally guilty of not using it enough and spurning good positions by making mistakes in midfield.
The score remained 5-3 until the break and the half-time consensus was that West could be pretty pleased with that scoreline given the way the half had gone.
After the restart it became a totally different game. West dominated territorially but for a time it looked like they too would struggle to turn the pressure into points. Paul Moss missed an early penalty but then manufactured a superb individual try. The stand-off looked to switch play back towards his forwards but with the space in-front of him opening up he went through the hole and jinked around the last man to crash in for the score. He added the conversion attempt but missed two further penalty attempts from long range as West looked to extend the lead.
It was almost a mirror of how Driffield had played in the first half and it was now West's forwards looking rampant and the visiting pack struggling to stay on terms. But with an hour gone West had still failed to extend the lead despite having pinned Driff back into their own half for the entire second period. Two glorious opportunities went begging - first a forward pass denying Gav Painter a score and then an unbelievable overlap spurned by further poor handling.
It looked like being “one of those days” until Peter Hodgson finally calmed some nerves with a try. A rolling maul had moved play to within 5 metres and Chocky Davies went close but when the ball was recycled Hodgson came on an inside line and went in for the score. Moss was again successful with the conversion and West could breathe a little easier at 17-5.
Driffield were not about to lie down though, and as West had in the first half, they began to come back into the game but were blighted by some loose handling at key times. In their increasing desperation for points a quick lineout taken by stand off Damian Jacobs ended up being the effective end of the contest. The ball was moved along the line but the lack of support led to a West turnover from which Darren Thomas collected the ball and raced in from half way to leave Moss a simple conversion. The third try of the half was a critical score and it was probably fitting that it was a direct product of some good defensive play.
Despite the three score deficit the visitors, as Morpeth had last week, finished the stronger and scored probably the try of the match in the closing minutes. A break from inside their own 22 and some fantastic support play led to a try from scrum-half Tom Foster. It gave the scoreline a probably fair reflection of the game although Driffield would definitely rue the missed opportunities in the first half.
A third win and impressive performance shows that West are definitely a force to be reckoned with in this league. Coaches, players and spectators would probably agree that there is still even more to come from this side but this was much closer to the sort of performance that will challenge for those top two league places.
Of course promotion is not won and lost in September, it is way to early to talk about that, but West are heading in the right direction and if the performances continue to improve there'll not be many teams fancying a trip to Brinkburn.
West: Thomas, Weegram (Painter), Howe, Hodgson, Hare, Moss, Williamson, Carr, A Dixon, Robinson (Phillips), Davies, T Dixon, D Boatman, J Boatman, Miller (Garside)
Tries: Moss, Hodgson, Thomas
Cons: Moss 3
Pen: Moss
Driffield: Wright, Anderson, McClarron, Thomson, McGill, Jacobs, Foster, Mitchell-Williams, Lampling, Dervey, O Cooper, Luke, Jones, V Cooper, Conroy
Tries: Anderson, Foster
Sinbin: O Cooper
Referee: Fraser Colley [Midlands Society]
Related Links:
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Author: MikeyBoy
Date: 24-09-07 10:17
great win and good to see that we are improving week by week. driffield's backs looked reasonably good but we dominated them up front in the second half which is definatley encouraging
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Author: West Park Allotment
Date: 24-09-07 10:21
Pity I missed this one as it sounds a better game than than the City one. Can't argue with three wins out of three. Well done lads.
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Author: grandos
Date: 24-09-07 16:39
Good Win for you guys,
Shame that the Journal newspaper got you muddled up with ROVERS!
Quote " West Hartlepool remain in second place in the division despite a 20-9 defeat at YORK"
Roy Kelly must have passed the match report up to the Journal and changed Rover to West!!!!
:oD:oD:oD
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Author: Roz Prichard
Date: 24-09-07 19:19
Great Game. Well done the Lads. It was a great game to watch, especially from the comfort of our new stand .When those cold winds blow this winter it'll be the best spot for us supporters.
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Author: Supercodhead
Date: 25-09-07 12:11
according to the Driffield website there was some typical cheating for the Moss try>>>wonder who the guilty tripper was >>oh how my head hurts trying to come up with a name>>>
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NEXT FIXTURE
Rochdale
VENUE
Friendly - Away kick off 3.00
DATE
Saturday August 30th
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