Unfortunately injuries once again marred the victory as we lost prop Adam Coates to an ankle injury in the first quarter, and then centre Liam Bailey to a bad  concussion in the second ,which saw him off to hospital for a much needed check up

We were already missing a handful of regular first teamers, and had to further reorganise with the late withdrawal of the experienced Andrew Foreman and up and coming young winger CeeJay Beales. Gav Robinson started in the centre and veteran Jon Cole came on as a replacement winger.

And it was one of the replacements who earned that first try bonus point. Gavin Robinson had a fine game in the centre, and he capped it with a 70 minute interception try which saw him race home under the posts for our fourth try of the afternoon.

The home side had begun the game strongly, but only had a third minute penalty from Zac Southern to show for their efforts.

He was narrowly wide with another effort before the visitors made use of the strong wind at their backs.

West full back Stu Waites was sin binned for obstruction on charging winger Hugh Todd and while he was absent Nathan O’Grady equalised the scores.

The visitors slowly got into the game, and went ahead after 35 minutes when their pressure eventually opened a hole in our defence for full back Rory Mallaburn to steam through.

With the conversion missed we would have been happy to turn round with the prospect of the elements at our backs and only trailing by five points.

But it was better than that as top try scorer Sam Miller levelled the scores finishing off a series of drives to find space to go in at the corner.

Alnwick once again got their noses in front just after the break when prop Peter Brown found himself in space on the right. He broke two tackles as he went over from five metres.

The visitors looked strong with flanker James Hamilton and scrum half Peter Moralee a constant threat but we stepped up to the mark with one of our best tackling displays of the season and gradually got on top.

We took the lead 49 minutes when Scott Butcher finished off a flowing move and managed to touch down despite the attention of two defenders.

Zac Southern added a superb touchline conversion to put us two points clear .

Minutes later full back Stu Waites was desperately unlucky not to get on the end of a chip through from Southern with the line at his mercy.

The full back then broke up the left wing and his backhand pass inside to Butcher was only just intercepted by replacement Danny Clayton.

West continued to press and Butcher got his second try on the hour when Peter Youll sent him clear on the left. The West winger still had plenty to do but he outpaced the cover to touchdown wide on the left.

Southern’s kick was narrowly wide, and with the score at 20-13 the next score was the important one. Thanks to Robinson’s interception on the halfway line it went our way for a deserved and much need victory.

West: Stu Waites, Peter Youll, Liam Bailey, Gavin Robinson, Scott Butcher, Zac Southern, Ryan Painter, Ross Wood, Andrew Rollins, Adam Coates, Chris Atkins, Joe Rafferty, Dan Boatman [capt], Jordan Baggs, Sam Miller. Reps [all used] Jon Cole, Jack Angus, Alex Barker.

Tries: Miller, Butcher [2], Robinson.

Cons: Southern [2]

Pens: Southern [1]

Yellow: Waites

Alnwick: Rory Mallaburn, Hugh Todd, Jo Weddle, Frank Hutchinson, Ian Gray, Nathan O’Grady, Peter Moralee, Peter Brown, James Grey, Richard Elliott, Josh Burgess, Matty Grey, Richard Ellis, James Hamilton, Ben Gothorp.

Reps [all used] Gordon Smith, Ali Grey, Danny Clayton.

Tries: Mallaburn, Brown.

Pens: O’Grady [1]

Referee: Callum Sharp [Manchester]