West never allowed Rovers into the game stealing line-outs on a regular basis and dominating the scrum. In the end the win could have been by a bigger margin and despite their two tries Rovers had barely any possession or attacking territory to speak of.

The home pack was in fine form with the Boatman brothers outstanding throughout and behind the scrum Greg Edwards having one of his best games for West.

West began the game on storming form with Rovers hardly touching the ball before Paul Moss opened the scoring with a penalty on 5 minutes. But Rovers came back and, against the early run of play, got the first try of the game. As the visitors moved the ball through the backs it went to ground but Andrew Lilley picked up and evaded two tacklers before chipping ahead and winning the race to the ball, seemingly bobbling the ball when grounding but the try was given.

The hosts came back well with two good rolling mauls but were penalised on the try line for holding on to deny a further score. It took until the 25th minute for the score to eventually come when several phases of play on the right hand side created space on the left where Gav Painter was able to get in for a try in the corner.

With Rovers lineout struggling there was no shortage of ball for Davy Tighe to distribute and further good attacking play led to a Moss penalty after 33 minutes but no further points could be added before the break.

At half-time West would have hoped to have a bigger lead than 11-7 given their dominance in possession and territory. Lineout stats of 1 win from 8 was the story of the half for the visitors but despite that they were still in the game.

Martin Todd ghosted through the defence from full-back only to be halted by a Dave Marshall tackle yards from the line early in the second half but a few minutes later Tighe hurdled the ruck and crawled in from 5 metres to extend the lead. A penalty straight after the restart gave Chris Sainty the chance to pull 3 points back but the kick missed wide on the left.

Moss landed a drop goal on 56 minutes before the pick of the West tries. Rovers were attacking close to the line but a penalty and quick tap left the home backs with space to run. Andrew Davies and Martin Todd drew 2 men well on half-way to give Painter chance to stretch his legs. The youngster weaved his way past two men untouched to score a superb try which Moss converted to virtually seal the game at 26-7.

Rovers were awarded a penalty try when Davy Tighe pulled down Gareth Foreman as he was about to score after hacking through from a quick penalty but West had the final word when a gallopping Davies crashed in after collecting a high bounce from a Moss chip.

All in all a superb win for West and while talks of promotion were being doused by the Rovers faithful there is still potential to play better and the form is coming at the right time with some tough fixtures still to come. Kevin Westgarth's men need to regroup and hope that their forwards can win some ball to give their danger players an opportunity to score tries. Losing the amount of first phase possession they did today and kicking so much ball away it could well be a tough season.

West face a difficult trip to Rochdale next week but couldn't go there in higher spirits with three wins in a row and should they come back to Hartlepool with a vistory, things could look very interesting indeed at the top of the table.

One final note to the Rovers fan quipping “put that in your pipe and smoke it” after the penalty try. I'm enjoying smoking a sixth victory in seven matches thank you and hopefully it will be 7 from 8 come Boxing Day! And a word of advice, try using your comments when you're actually winning the game....they have more effect that way!


West: Todd (Hare), Lambert, Edwards, Hodgson, Painter, Moss, Tighe (capt), Carr, Sawyer, Cullinane, Rudd, Davies, D Boatman, J Boatman, Miller.

Tries: Painter 2, Tighe, Davies
Con: Moss
Pen: Moss 2
DG: Moss


Rovers: B Foreman, Sainty, Lilley, Marshall, Jones, Walton, Foreman, S Smith, Cushlow, Wise, Power (capt), Cook, Grazier, Clare, D Smith

Tries: Lilley, Penalty
Cons: Sainty, Foreman

Rferee: Ray Sutherland [Durham Society]