The game was a brutal contest with referee Charl Erasmus given the almost impossible task of controlling the two sets of players. The fact that there were as many cards as tries is probably a fair reflection on the game, which was again played on a fairly poor Brinkburn pitch, more rain having done little to help the damage done to the surface during last week's encounter with Percy Park.

The first half was full of incident but unfortunately little of it to do with rugby. We had the better of the early exchanges, but failed to capitalise on a couple of visits to the 22 including seeing a Gareth  Foreman penalty drift wide after only 2 minutes.

Wheatley Hills were first on the scoreboard with a simple Guy Townsley penalty on 21 minutes awarded as the backs crept up offside while defending deep in the 22.

The first yellow card of the afternoon appeared on the half hour with Hills talisman number eight Gareth Burns dismissed following an incident that forced Colin Cheslin off the field to be replaced by Darren Thomas. The card was barely back in the pocket before being reproduced for second row Dan Undy, his high tackle on Luke Watson taking place in the very next play.

We had to make the 2 man advantage count and did, kicking penalties to touch twice and driving a maul over the line where Andrew Davies emerged from the bottom of the pile the scorer. Gareth Foreman nailed the wide conversion for a 7-3 lead which remained at the break as we missed out on repeating the maul in the other corner when the lineout was overthrown.

Hills came out on fire at the start of the second half and we looked shell-shocked as they stormed into the lead with two tries in 3 minutes. First Burns pickup from a 5 metre scrum saw the league's leading try scorer add another to his tally and then the number eight turned provider as his storming run set up a good attacking position, the try eventually being finished off in the same corner by wing Tom Barker.

We looked to be on the ropes, and heads dropped further when Gareth Foreman skewed a simple penalty wide on 53 minutes. Things got worse when Gav Robinson saw yellow for a block and Townsley slotted over the resultant penalty, although the visitors could feel a little aggrieved that had advantage been played they would likely have scored a try under the posts. Nevertheless, a first home defeat of the season now looked increasingly on the cards.

At 18-7 behind with 20 minutes to go a comeback seemed unlikely but momentum shifted after another flare up involving the vast majority of both sides. With the players finally separated referee Erasmus showed his red card to both Andrew Penno and replacement Luke Taplin, presumably for specific acts as the fighting had involved many other players. 14 against 15 now became 14 against 13 and as time ticked on we started to put together a few phases for the first time in the half.

With 10 minutes to play confusion reigned as the referee blew what sounded like a full-time whistle as yet more blows were exchanged between the forwards. Players began walking off only to be called back and after a lengthy stoppage the game continued. Good ball retention saw us plough our way into the 22 but a loose pass looked to end the chance with the line only metres away. However, we were reprieved with a free kick from the resulting scrum and a quick tap saw Adam Coates drive over for a try converted by Gav Robinson.
Suddenly we were back in with a chance and with a couple of minutes plus injury time to play the game was far from over. Liam Bailey made a storming run upfield as time ticked on and Darren Thomas popped up with a couple of good runs to move us into the 22. A few surges for the line went close before Andrew Foreman saw half a gap and got the ball down on the line for the try to be awarded.

Gav Robinson got his second conversion with the last kick of the game and somehow, having looked down and out, we had manufactured a win and definitely used up one of our 'Get Out of Jail' cards.


West: C Cheslin, A Cheslin (Thomas), Watson, G Robinson, Larkin, G Foreman, A Foreman, Carr, A Dixon, Coates, Davies, Lloyd (Miller), D Boatman, Bailey, Stockdale.

Tries: Davies, Coates, A Foreman
Cons: G Foreman, Robinson 2

Sin-bin: Robinson


Wheatley Hills: Marshall, Webb, M Hayward, S Hayward, Barker, Townsley, Scully, O'Donovan, Cahill, Ogilvey, Undy, Penno, Buckenham, Elliot, Burns.
Reps: Staley, Plevey, Taplin

Tries: Burns, Barker
Con: Townsley
Pens: Townsley 2

Sin-bin: Burns, Undy
Sent-off: Penno, Taplin


Referee: Charl Erasmus [Durham Society]