For the first team this was a hard-fought win over Northern, who played some good rugby with some useful runners in the backs and a decent forward pack led from the front by former West man Chris Stewart.

In the same way as last week at Morpeth we seemed to have no problem scoring when getting into good attacking areas but conceded too many points to ever be in a comfortable winning position. This is the fourth game out of six that we have leaked over 20 points and that's certainly one area to be improved upon when we come up against some of the teams from the top half of the table in the coming weeks.

Adam Larkin opened the scoring with the game 7 minutes old, winning the foot race to Tom Dixon's kick ahead after we had won turnover ball just inside our own half. Kicking into a gusty wind, the wide conversion from Paul Moss dropped short.

Northern bounced straight back with a try from Alex Clark, the centre capitalising on a handling error in the West backline as we once again tried to move turnover ball wide quickly. Kelham O'Hanlon's conversion gave the visitors a 7-5 lead.

We regained the lead with a Peter Hodgson try, made possible thanks to a great offload from Paul Rudd although there was a distinctly forward looking pass in the build up which referee Steve Havery waved away and awarded the score despite some protest. The conversion dropped short once again and a penalty from O'Hanlon at the other end tied the scores at 10.

Northern then retook the lead on 26 minutes with Clark again instrumental. A quick-tap from a free kick caught us out and Clark bust through the middle before feeding left-wing David O'Sullivan to complete the try, O'Hanlan again adding the extras.

A good period of pressure eventually resulted in us levelling the scores once more, Stephen Stockdale crashing over close to the posts with Moss slotting the conversion.

O'Hanlon missed two shots at goal in the opening 10 minutes of the second half and sandwiched in-between them Moss had snatched the lead back with a penalty 15 metres in from the right touchline. It was to be the last time the lead would change hands and things started to look a lot more comfortable when Liam Bailey took a great pass, this time from Dan Boatman, to score in the left corner, giving us a 25-17 lead with 25 minutes to play and securing the try-scoring bonus point in the process. But Northern fought back again, O'Sullivan grabbing his second try after an interception and a quick tap penalty turned defence into attack.

Handling errors began to creep in on both sides as the game entered a tense final 10 minutes. A flurry of penalties were conceded by the visitors in the right corner and after a couple of driving mauls Andrew Foreman sealed the victory with a trademark snipe from the base to score, Moss's conversion completed the scoring.


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

Tries: Larkin, Hodgson, Stockdale, Bailey, A Foreman,
Cons: Moss 2
Pen: Moss


Northern: James, Fawcett, Clark, Robson, O'Sullivan, O'Hanlon, McKercher, Stewart, Coffey, Finlay, Douglas, Tucker, Cunningham, Clark, Rankin.
Reps: Ben-Said, Marwick, Job

Tries: Clark, O'Sullivan 2
Cons: O'Hanlon 2
Pen: O'Hanlon

Referee: Steve Havery [Durham Society]