Picking up a losing bonus point is little consolation from a game which we could, and possibly should, have won. After a first half of remarkably few penalties the second period saw West struggle to get on the right side of the whistle and consequently struggle to build on the lead. Despite dominating the scrum, taking a number against the head, we couldn't make the advantage pay where it mattered, on the scoreboard. The perfect conditions should have made handling easy but both sides made it look just the opposite throughout the game with lots of dropped balls and loose passes disrupting any momentum gained.

We opened the scoring after just 5 minutes, Gareth Kerr stepping inside a couple of tackles to finish well after a good break from Tim Sawyer, and probably shaded the half but could only add a penalty from Paul Moss after 35 minutes in the way of points. That lack of points scored was rammed home a minute before the break when Liam Lawton strolled in for a score for the visitors, exploiting an overlap after a break from scrum-half Tom Chappell.

As in the first half it wasn't long into the second that Kerr was adding his second score. 47 minutes were on the clock when Andy Cheslin came in off his wing and made a good diagonal run up-field. Quickly recycled ball was crucial and when the ball made it's way back to Cheslin on the left wing, he beat his man and timed his pass perfectly to Kerr for an easy score.

Hayes' first penalty came on 52 minutes but the turning point came 10 minutes later when the Chester scrum was rocked backwards but despite the front-row standing up the relieve the pressure play went on and from the next breakdown Jon Boatman was yellow carded and Hayes duly cut the lead to just 2 points. It was a massive blow and one we didn't seem to recover from.

We battled hard whilst down to 14 but couldn't prevent Hayes nudging Chester in-front with an excellent touch-line penalty on 72 minutes and from that point on there was no way back. Hayes final kick 3 minutes from time capped an improbable second half comeback and left the majority of spectators wondering quite how the game had been lost.


West: Thomas, A Cheslin, Kerr, Connolly, C Cheslin (G Robinson), Moss, Williamson, Norris (Greenwell), Sawyer, Carr, Rudd, Dixon, D Boatman, J Boatman, Garside.

Tries: Kerr 2
Pen: Moss
Yellow Card: J Boatman

Chester: Green, Coy, Lawton, Verbickas, Lyon, Hayes, Chappell, Owen, Gill, Sproston, Pigott, Sanger, Legat, Moore, Zachary
Reps: Smith, Williams

Try: Lawton
Pens: Hays 4

Referee: Jon Owen [Yorkshire]