It was a game West really had to win to stay in the promotion hunt but for once it was the defence that went wrong, particularly in that first half. Credit must be given to Morpeth who played some excellent rugby and certainly showed much better form than their league position suggests. Perhaps the 'Jinks factor' has been to blame for that, as their points-machine has been missing for several weeks through fire brigade training and he returned to action with an 18 point haul.

The game had started with some good West tackling, forcing Morpeth back and winger Gav Painter went on a mazy run but lost his footing at a crucial moment when it looked like he would round the full back to score. However it was the visitors who opened the scoring with 7 minutes gone. Dangerous winger Peter Cole broke several tackles down the right and with the defence sucked in Jinks capitalised on the overlap. His own conversion came back of the post.

West battled back though and eventually got a try 18 minutes into the game. They had spent a long period in the visitors 22 but mistakes at crucial times had prevented a try being scored. A 5 metre scrum gave the platform for the score with Davy Tighe making the break and feeding Chris Lambert to go in at the corner. Paul Moss' touchline conversion gave West the lead.

That lead would only last a matter of minutes as another break from Cole set up Alan Rodgers to score. West would be disappointed with the tackling but Morpeth were keeping the ball alive very well and playing some of the best rugby seen from a visiting side this season. The form continued with another try just after the half hour mark when more missed tackles proved costly and the try was scored under the posts. With both conversions in front of the posts the score was 19-7 to Morpeth and nobody could argue it wasn't deserved.

West kept in touch with a try just before the break. Some 7s like rugby eventually created space on the right where good hands from Greg Edwards led to Dan Boatman going in for the try. Moss couldn't repeat his touchline conversion but it was an important score for West, who had at least managed to convert two 10 minutes periods of pressure into two tries but the defence needed to improve.

The second period began just how West would have wanted. A tap penalty was taken to replacement Carl Robinson who burrowed over for a try but the simple conversion to tie the scores sailed wide. With the hosts two points in arrears Jinks again showed his value with two very long range penalties that stretched the lead and kept West at arm's length.

With time running out for West new recruit Neil Howe came on in the centre with Gav Painter moving to fly-half. It was a gamble but seemed to liven things up behind the scrum and presented a different challenge for the Morpeth defence. With 70 minutes gone Lambert got his second try in an almost identical move to his first from a short scrum and with the visiting forwards looking out on their feet, hopes were high for a comeback win.

But try as they might West couldn't break Morpeth down and crucially dropped a few passes which needed to be held. The final nail in the coffin, or so it seemed, was a penalty from the half way line by Jinks with 40 minutes on the clock.

The referee was adding 2 minutes for stoppages and West set about the task of needing a converted try to win. They marched up the field with Morpeth time and time again killing the ball cynically and being penalised by the official. Prop David Dickinson was yellow carded but West just couldn't break that final line of defence. The game was up when they were penalised for holding on 5 metres out from the line and Jinks hammered the ball into touch to cue the celebrations.

The loss is a severe and probably fatal blow to West's promotion hopes, and the prospect of a trip to leaders Middlesbrough in two weeks hardly helps things. Some positives can be taken from the second half display and the fact that West outscored the visitors 4 tries to 3. The traditionally strong defence was far from it's best though and needs to improve, and quickly. There will also be some selection issues to resolve with Tom Dixon having another good half as a replacement and Gav Painter and Neil Howe looking lively as a 10-12 combination.


West: Hare, Lambert, Edwards, Hodgson, Painter, Moss (Howe), Tighe, Carr, Cullinane, Norris (Robinson), Rudd, Miller, D Boatman, Myers (Dixon), J Boatman.

Tries: Lambert 2, D Boatman, Robinson
Con: Moss

Sinbin: Carr


Morpeth: Wilkinson, Cole, Jinks, Hills, Rodgers, Parker, Reynolds, Goodfellow, Thornton, Dickinson, Forsyth, Hutton, Morrison, Watson, Walton.
Reps: Harper, Pringle, Shippen

Tries: Jinks, Rodgers, Hills
Cons: Jinks 2
Pens: Jinks 3

Sinbin: Hutton, Dickinson

Referee: Colin Tovey [Yorkshire Society]