Stu had been in fine form in an unaccustomed centre berth before he dislocated his shoulder in the second half
It came just a minute after Danny Boatman had to leave the field for good after receiving two yellow cards .
The first after 34 minutes came after referee Graham Crozier judged a harmless looking tackle in midfield had been late, and the second came on 53 minutes for an apparent obstruction as West’s Sam Miller burst through the home defence.
From the resultant penalty home hooker Ross Keane burst through midfield and Waites damaged his shoulder as he brought him down.
To sum up our day centre Gregg Littlewood was in support but he clearly dropped the ball over the line as he went to touch down. Unfortunately, thes error wasn’t spotted and the try stood.
That made the score 24-6 to Northern and there was no coming back for West.
The home side had the better of the first half starting with purpose and took an early lead through a drop goal from fly half Donal Collins.
Stu Waites was narrowly wide with a penalty for West before Collins put his side further ahead with a penalty on the quarter hour.
We were struggling to get decent possession, and it was no surprise when the home side got the first try of the game with flanker Ed Cawthone popping up in the centre to break two tackles as he went over
Waites was just short with a penalty, but he did manage a score right on the break and at 14-3 we were still very much in the game.
We started the second half strongly bursting into the home half when Ryan Painter made ground. His inside pass to Dan Boatman opened up the home defence with Sam Miller galloping away only for play to be brought back for a forward pass.
The deficit was reduced with another penalty on 46 minutes which was cancelled out by one for Northern just five minutes later to put them 17-6 in the lead.
Then came the Boatman sending off and Northern took full advantage. Following his contentious try Littlewood scored a second just three minutes later bursting in from the wing and going over in some style.
The conversion made it 31-6 and winger Dom Fawcett got the try bonus point shortly after when he was left in acres of space to take a crossfield kick to score in the corner.
To their credit we came back and eventually got our consolation try.
Zac Southern almost got over only to be high tackled five metres form the line, and then a second penalty saw the ball spun out to the right where Sam Miller celebrated his 19th birthday by diving over.
Southern converted to give the score a more respectable gloss. However Northern had the final word when the backs broke clear down the right to send in replacement Jamie Crowther with Collins ending the scoring.
Northern: Doug Patterson, Matt Brown, Chris Young, Gregg Littlewood, Dom Fawcett, Donal Collins, Sam Thorne, Ian Brierley, Ross Keane, Damien Martinez, Barry Blackburn, Rob Kinnell, Ed Cawthorne, Tom McCullough, James Ellis.
Reps (all used): Alan Douglas, Jamie Crowther, Larne Jones-Whiting
Tries: Cawthorne, Littlewood [2], Fawcett, Crowther.
Drop Goal: Collins
Cons: Collins (3)
Pens: Collins (3)
West: Luke Mallinson, Kyle Jamieson, Andrew Foreman, Stu Waites, Matt Tyers, Zac Southern, Ryan Painter, Ian Pinchen, Andrew Rollins, Jack Angus, Owen Bennett, Joe Rafferty, Alex Barker, Dan Boatman [capt], Sam Miller.
Reps (all used): Liam Bailey, Ross Wood, Chris Atkins.
Tries: Miller
Cons: Southern
Penalties: Waites (2)
Yellow: Boatman (2)