Durham City looked a fraction of the side which pushed for promotion last season and had they finished any of the several try scoring opportunities in the opening period it may well have been a different story. Handling errors plagued West all day with the number of dropped and wayward passes quite unbelievable. Their defence was good though and when put under a period of sustained pressure 10 minutes from time it held up very well indeed.

When West were offside from the opening kick off it signalled how the game was going to start. James Walker made two simple penalty goals on 5 and 9 minutes before West had really touched the ball and when they did it was like a wet bar of soap handing possession back to the visitors. Crucially though City could not score a try as the West defence creaked but never broke down.

Paul Moss missed a chance to halve the lead on 24 minutes and 3 minutes later Walker added his third penalty with a sublime kick from beyond the 10 metre line and wide on the right.

West finally got on the offensive and a penalty allowed them to kick up to the 22. A good rolling maul had City back-pedalling and when the ball came back after a couple of phases Aaron Myers fed Paul Rudd whose strength was enough to fend off two tacklers and get the ball down. Moss couldn’t add the conversion but the try gave West some much needed confidence.

After Walker missed a relatively easy chance by his standards West added their second try a minute before the break. It was set up by an almost identical situation to the first. Another rolling maul made ground but this time the forwards kept in close with pick and go from the base and eventually Anth Carr crashed in close to the posts. Moss made the easy conversion.

The second half started much better for West with Carr adding his second try just 5 minutes in. It was another try set up by similar circumstances. A maul advanced play forward and some strong surges by the forwards led to Carr getting over in the left corner.

City fought back well and pressed for a score that would bring them back into the game with the deficit only 8 points at 17-9. But West’s defence held up and when Moss added a penalty with 15 minutes to go it eased the tension a little.

City refused to give in and mounted an offensive on the try-line. Several pile-ups at the line failed to result in a try and after almost 10 minutes of pressure West finally cleared and the final few minutes was played out without event.

It was far from a satisfying performance for West but there were some plus points to come from the game. Debutant Gavin Painter had several brilliant mazy runs before leaving the field injured mid-way through the second half. Jon Norris also showed well playing all 80 minutes and the defence was solid throughout with much improved tackling from the visit to Old Crocs.
Training this week might well be back to basics. Passing and catching were two skills in scarce supply in the first half but its results that count and when you can win when not playing your best it says a lot about the quality of the side. 2 wins from 3 is a good start and needs to become 3 from 4 after next weeks visit to Percy Park before Rovers visit Brinkburn in a fortnight to cement a good start to the season.

West: Todd, Painter (Wallis), Edwards, Hodgson, Lambert, Moss, Tighe (c), Carr (Cullinane), Sawyer, Norris, Rudd, Davies, D Boatman, Myers, J Boatman.
Sub not used: Tones

Tries: Rudd, Carr 2
Con: Moss
Pen: Moss

Durham City: Walker, Thompson, Stanley, Knowles, Mattison, Stevenson, Cammiss, Hay, Powell, Wearmouth, MacKinnon, Johnson, Roberts, Bradley.
Subs: Archbald, Atkinson, McCreedy

Pens: Walker 3

Referee: Craig Wrightson (Northumberland Society)