Many of the derbies of recent years have turned into low scoring, scrappy games and while this was far from edge-of-the-seat stuff there was some decent rugby on shown and it was a more open game than many would have expected. West continued to look to keep the ball alive and move the ball trough the backs but the game was won up-front where Rovers failed to cope with West's big ball carriers, evident by the names on the scoresheet – Paul Rudd, Stephen Stockdale, Carl Robinson. Time and again they carried the ball through tackles and put the visitors on the back foot. Scott Jordan added 15 points to seal a comfortable win.

Playing with a strong wind Rovers went quickly into a 6-0 lead thanks to two penalties from Chris Sainty but when West took the lead on 15 minutes they never looked like giving it up. Andrew Foreman took a quick tap penalty on half way and a lovely long pass from Paul Moss sent Scott Jordan away up the left wing. The full-back exchanged passes with Colin Cheslin before racing in under the posts and converting the try himself.

Paul Rudd, so often playing his best rugby in derby games, was again immense and he got the second try with 26 minutes gone. He picked up from the base of a scrum 15 metres out and brushed aside three tackles to score under the posts and leave Jordan another easy conversion. Sainty missed the chance to pull 3 points back a minute later but did cut the deficit on the half hour from 40 metres after Andrew Dring won a turnover and earned a penalty.

With 5 minutes to go in the half West surged into the 22 and got those forward runners the ball in hand once again. Stockdale and Liam Bailey both went close and when Dring killed the ball on the line, referee Max Barnard showed the number 8 a yellow card. It was to prove a massive blow for Rovers as by the time he returned they were pretty much out of the game, conceding a try either side of the half-time break.

Carl Robinson, a late replacement for Anth Carr, got the first – charging through a couple of tackles on his way to the line and 2 minutes after the break Rudd got his second - finishing off a move he started with another pick up from the base of a scrum. Both tries were again scored in the shadow of the posts leaving Jordan no problems in adding the conversions.

Rovers continued to battle away but having been starved of decent possession for most of the game they were guilty of kicking it away too often in the second half and so struggled to create any real scoring opportunities.

Adam Howard made his first appearance of the season from the bench and was immediately tearing up the field with ball in hand. His drive toward the line on 66 minutes, ably supported by skipper Jonny Boatman led to Stockdale crashing over for the fifth try of the game, once again leaving Jordan a simple conversion. The full-back would end the game on a less bright note though, receiving a yellow card 5 minutes from time after an attempted charge down resulted in a heavy collision with Rovers replacement James Masshedar.

'Professional' would probably be a fair word to describe this performance from a West point of view. We did what was needed and played some good rugby in patches, finishing off the try scoring opportunities well. We never really let Rovers have a sniff of the win and starved them of decent ball for long periods, something that couldn't have been said much in recent meetings between the sides.

Winning at Morpeth is never an easy task but West can have every confidence next week with 4 wins already in the bag and confidence growing with every game.



West: Jordan, Larkin, C Cheslin, Moss, Thomas, G Foreman (Hodgson), A Foreman, Robinson (Howard), Bailey, Stockdale, T Dixon, Davies (Miller), D Boatman, J Boatman, Rudd.

Tries: Jordan, Rudd 2, Robinson, Stockdale
Cons: Jordan 5

Yellow Cards: Davies, Jordan

Rovers: Sainty (Masshedar), B Cushlow, Austwicke, Readhead, Grand, Wilson, Phillips, Smith (Tucker), J Cushlow, Pinchen, Power (Grazier), Thubron, Palmer, Jones, Dring.

Pens: Sainty 3
Yellow Card: Dring

Referee: Max Barnard [NW Federation]