Driffield showed no signs of selection problems caused by injuries and North of England under 18 training, their backline causing a defensively frail West problems all afternoon. It will be a game West’s coaches will want the players to forget quickly before a tough away assignment next week at Sandal.

There was bad news for West right from the off. Following the opening kick off top points scorer Davy Tighe took a heavy blow charging down a kick. He managed to play on but was forced to leave the field with less than ten minutes gone looking very uneasy as he was led back to the dressing room. The backline was rearranged with substitute Martin Todd going to full-back and Phil Wallis moving up to fly-half.

Driffield’s dangerous backs were deadly on the counter attack all day and after taking a 12 minute lead with a simple penalty from Piercey they got their first try when on loan winger Alasdair McClarron set off from half way and tore through the West defence to score in the corner. Hull KR rugby league star McClarron’s runs were a constant threat as time after time the West defence was beaten by his power and pace.

The game was all Driffield as West just couldn’t clear their lines and were under constant pressure due to some wayward kicking and problems at the lineout. The hosts extended their lead when referee Phil Stones decided to award a penalty try when Sawyer tackled a man while the ball was in the air. The verdict of the Liverpool official seemed a little harsh but it was no less than Driffield had deserved.

West did manage some neat play to progress into the Driffield 22 but in a trend that would continue for the rest of the game the hosts were lethal when capitalising on turnovers. Again it was McClarron making the break and only some desperate tackling kept him from scoring his second try. As the half time whistle neared West produced their best play of the half. A rolling maul went close and it looked like if they came away with points before the break the game would be back on. But the ball went to ground in the backs and some good handling put McClarron away again. He drew three defenders before slipping a great pass inside for number eight Jones to go in untouched under the posts. Piercey added the conversion.


West made two changes at half time bringing on Stuart Bennett and Paul Rudd for Andrew Davies and Carl Miller. It looked to be an effective move as both players made good early runs but once again when the ball was turned over McClarron broke down the wing and slipped the ball inside to captain Chris McClarron who finished another deadly counter attack between the posts.

The visitors continued to show promise in patches with the back row in particular making some good ground but the attacking lacked continuity and Driffield looked dangerous every time they got the ball. A quick throw on half way put full-back Piercey through and he fed open-side Wood for the first of his three tries. Piercey added the conversion and with twenty five minutes still on the clock it was looking worrying for West already 34-0 down.

However West did manage to stem the flow of Driffield pressure for a period but when Sawyer was sin-binned for a late tackle Wood added two quick tries to complete his hat-trick. The first came from a rolling maul and the second following another superb counter attacking run, this time from winger Kitching. Piercey completed the rout by converting the second try having hit the upright with the first.

West thought they had managed a consolation try near the end but no-one could question the honesty of touch judge Henry Tones who raised his flag for a foot in touch to leave West with no points on the scoreboard for the second time this season.



West: Wallis, Abrahams, Hodgson, Milne, Hare, Tighe (Todd), Thomas, Cholmondely, Carr, Phillips, Miller (Rudd), Henderson, Davies (Bennett), Boatman, Sawyer

Sin-bin: Sawyer


Driffield: Piercey, Kitching, Wright, Plumridge, A McClarron, C McClarron, Rook, Stephenson, Halver, Yates, Carroll, Cooper, Cook, Wood, Jones
Reps: Stephenson, Rowntree, Notley

Tries: A McClarron, Penalty, Jones, C McClarron, Wood 3
Cons: Piercey 4
Pen: Piercey

Referee: Phil Stones (Liverpool Society)

Pens: Driffield 9 West 13