Youthful Celebration
Northern are one of the fancied teams in this league, but they were thwarted by relentless West tackling and eventually ran out of steam.
The hosts began the stronger going into the lead on three minutes after Dan Boatman strayed offside giving Dom Fawcett an easy shot at the three points.
We got back on level terms when Jon Boatman broke into the Northern half with the defenders penalised for going over the top. Stu Waites stepping up to add the points.
The older Boatman brother continued to be at the centre of the action and earned the wrath of referee Andrew Scott after 18 minutes. He was yellow carded for an offence at the breakdown, but so was home hooker Sam Wilson with the penalty reversed in West’s favour.
We opted to kick for a line-out. It proved to be the right decision as the forwards gained possession and mauled their way to the home line where Miller dived over.
Stu Waites added a superb conversion from close to the touchline and straight into the strong breeze.
We were gaining in confidence as the game went on and once again were more than holding our own against a much bigger pack.
When Northern did gain possession their backs were knocked back by some superb tackling from Liam Bailey and Andrew Cheslin as well as several massive hits fromPeter Youll.
The home side were getting frustrated with No 4 Kieran Dannatt earning the wrath of the visiting supporters on several occasions - Jonny Boatman received a similar reaction from the McCracken Park faithfull.
Northern did manage to reduce the deficit just before the break with another penalty from Fawcett.
With the wind at our backs in the second half we continued to dominate and it was no surprise when we went further ahead after 47 minutes.
The forwards secured quick ball on the left. Ryan Painter fed Stu Waites who beat his opposite number on the inside before racing away passed several despairing tackles to go in behind the posts and set himself up for an easy conversion.
Painter came close when he went himself after we had again spurned a penalty opportunity to go for a line-out. The scrum half was held up over the line and the home side managed to clear.
But West were not to be denied for too long. Northern made a mess of a line–out on the half way line with Jonny Boatman collecting the overthrow at the rear and making yet another charge at the home backs.
His sheer speed took him clear and he looked to be going all the way until full back Rory Gibson managed to bring him down ten metres from the line.
Once again Sam Miller was there to pick up and go over beneath the posts to round off the afternoon’s scoring.
We were on the verge of a try bonus point but just failed to take several chances
Northern: 15. Rory Gibson, 14 Graham Jardine, 13 Alex Clark, 12 Spike Strang, 11 Dom Fawcett,10 Patrick Harper, 9 David Kay, 1 Oliver Holtam, 2 Sam Wilson, 3 Jon Bonner, 4 Kieran Dannatt, 5 Andrew Scott,6 Barry Blackburn 7 Pat Power, 8 Thom McCullough. Reps: Larne Jones, Alan Douglas, Sam Thorne
Pens: Fawcett (20
Yellow: Wilson
West: 15 Luke Mallinson 14 Scott Butcher 13 Andrew Cheslin 12 Liam Bailey 11 Peter Youll 10 Stuart Waites 9 Ryan Painter 1 Ross Wood 2 Andrew Rollins 3 Adam Coates 4 Michael Hogan 5 Dan Boatman [c] 6 Chris Atkins 7 Jon Boatman 8 Sam Miller 16 Andrew Dixon [FR] 17 Jay Corbett 18 Greg Edwards.
Tries: Miller (2), Waites
Cons: Waites (3)
Pens: Waites (1)
Yellow: J Boatman
Referee: Andrew Scott [Yorkshire]