Whilst the attack of both sides kept the scoreboard ticking over both coaches will surely be looking at the work in defence where neither side was made to work hard enough for the tries they scored. Both were also guilty of giving away careless points with West shipping two interception tries and the visitors taking a quick lineout straight to Scott Butcher for an easy try.
Despite that, winning your first game at home is crucial as far as momentum goes and when Huddersfield started with a bang that end result looked a distant possibly. The West Yorkshireman raced into a 12-0 lead in the opening 20 minutes, controlling possession so well we had barely seen the ball. Wing Stuart Morton was first to go over, collecting a deft chip to score before centre Dom Horn got the first of his three tries when Will Hilditch tried an offload which went straight to the Huddersfield man and he raced away to touch down under the posts.
When we finally got the ball upfield we answered straight back with Andrew Rollins crashing through Huddersfield player coach Mick Piper to go over from short range (abov). Gav Painter added the extras and followed it up with a penalty after a ruck infringement.
Scott Butcher was on the field as an early replacement and revelled in his new back row position scoring our second try to put us into the lead for the first time. The former winger pounced on a turnover ball in midfield and used his pace to beat the covering defence, Painter again adding the conversion.
More sustained pressure led to a third try, this time from Adam Coates and with five first half minutes to play we had stormed back from 12 points down to lead 22-12. But Horn would grab his second against the run of play when a loose pass to Zac Southern on half way was tipped in the air and fell to the grateful Horn who again raced in under the posts. Piper’s conversion cut the lead to 3 but Painter added a long range penalty on the stroke of half time for a 25-19 lead at the break.
He couldn’t repeat the feat early in the second half as a more straightforward shot drifted wide but Butcher was soon scoring his second, collecting a quick lineout from the visitors which almost looked like he was the intended recipient it fell so kindly for him and left him little to do to finish off the try and seal the bonus point.
Huddersfield were still not done though and having developed a big overlap on the right Horn was again the man to finish off the move and complete his hat-trick and secure the visitors own four-try bonus.
With 20 minutes still to play Huddersfield were back on top and despite losing scrum-half Josh Bradley to the sin-bin for preventing a quick-tap penalty and Painter adding another penalty goal they still threatened. Twice they kicked for the corner but overthrew the lineout jumper and on a third occasion the West forwards stole the ball at the front to thwart the visiting attack and ensure maximum points on the opening day.
Next week sees a trip to Malton & Norton who were on the end of a big defeat to Northern and will no doubt be looking to bounce back on the home ground.
West: Mallinson, Armstrong, Youll, G Painter, Hilditch, Southern, R Painter, Coates, Rollins, Key, Hogan, Rafferty, Bunter, Turner, Barker.
Reps: Foulds, Butcher, Linighan
Tries: Rollins, Butcher 2, Coates
Cons: G Painter 3
Pens: G Painter 3
YC: Coates
Huddersfield YMCA: Fletcher, Morton, Clough, Horn, Bullock, Piper, Bradley, Dyke, Hill, Crickmay, Black, Housley, Tindall, Hodge, Lumb.
Reps: Scholes, Watson, Bell
Tries: Morton, Horn 3
Cons: Piper 2
YC: Bradley
Referee: Sean White [Yorkshire Society]