| Well the last game of the season has finally come round and the result, as far as West is concerned, is that we learnt our lessons and most of us will be happy at our finish in the top half of the table. The coaches will understandably have preferred a higher position, but a mainly young team has continued to improve week in week out. So far we have used 37 players, with the likes of Ross Wood, Greg Edwards, Michael Hogan and Ben Lloyd among those who have come in and done valuable jobs. | |
| Indeed, Greg Edwards' "rugby brain" has been one of the features of our back play. [Greg pictured right] It has been achieved by a largely home grown team - and surely the Boatmans have been around long enough to be waved through the checkpoint as they come in off the A19. The team was within seconds of toppling league winners Mowden last week - another lesson - in how to close down matches - will hopefully have been learnt.
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| That result was still satisfying in that our neighbours have recruited from as far away as New Zealand and South Africa [via the University of Northumbria] and are one of the few clubs to openly admit they pay players. | |
| That's not something we can manage, but we can bring on our own talent witnessed by the regular performance of what must be one of the youngest front rows in any of the leagues. Sandal also arrive comfortably off in mid-table and can leapfrog us for sixth place. They've lost a couple of pacy wingers during the season, and their squad contains just half of the lads who gave us that difficult welcome back to N3N. |  |
| They're still capable of big scores and last week put more than 40 points on visitors Waterloo who appear to have totally miscalculated the relegation places. Loo put their efforts into beating us a couple of weeks ago, and announced they were safe. They seemed to have forgotten that, if teams are equal on points at the end of the season, it's the number of victories which come into play, and not the difference between points scored and conceded. | |
 | Our friends at Sandal tell us that when the news of Beverley's win at Rossendale came through there were some stunned Scousers as the penny dropped. The reality now is that they need to get at least a bonus point out of tomorrow's home game, against play-off chasing Rossendale, to guarantee their future is in their own hands. Fortunately, there's nothing so vital at stake at Brinkburn, but we do want to maintain our league position. We also don't want to put on an abject performance such as the one which dented our promotion celebrations when we lost the last game at Northern last season. |
| We will be without Chocky Davies, who injured his knee last week. Fortunately Gareth Eddy is fit to replace one of the players of the season. Liam Bailey, another outstanding performer this term, is also out with knee problems. Sadly, his could require a knee operation and a length convalescence and best wishes to him In the backs Luke Watson had an outstanding game last week but hasn't been able to train, so Stu Waites drops back to full back and Andrew Foreman returns at scrum half. Sandal are coming to enjoy themselves - promising to be in fancy dress after the game with a pub stop organised on their way back to Wakefield. We'll have our dedicated Minis and Junior coaches and managers enjoying their end of season party, and our Points West members putting their hands in their pockets to pay 10p for every league point scored. It'll cost us all £20 less than last season but I, for one, would not mind if it was back up 70 quid next year. In the meantime a hearty well done to all the senior coaches and especially Tim, Olly and Iain and, of course, to Dan Boatman and all the lads who have worn the first team shirt this season. West: Stu Waites, Colin Cheslin, Andrew Cheslin, Greg Edwards, Scott Butcher, Gareth Foreman, Andrew Foreman, Andrew Dixon, Adam Coates, Tom Dixon, Gareth Eddy, Dan Boatman [capt], Jon Boatman, Stephen Stockdale. Reps: Ross Wood, Alex Barker, Luke Watson. Sandal: Tom Coad, Dave Martin, Simon Frewin, Dan McCormack, Chris Carroll, Greg Wood [capt], Gareth Newman, Luke Norbury, Jamie Heron, Josh Bayford, Austen Thompson, Rob Overton, James Stewart, Jonny Gatus, Sean Maguire. Reps: Rob Norbury, Tom Proctor. Tom Smith. Referee: Hatim Tall [North Society]
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