The latter few months of 2012 have been forgettable both on and off the pitch but hopefully this win can be a morale boosting one and something to take forward into 2013 as we try and preserve National League status.

On paper we were always favourites but it was far from one way traffic with Rovers putting in a gutsy performance, particularly in defence where they competed ferociously at the ruck, slowing ball down and disrupting any attacking rhythm we established.

The players and coaches are likely to be disappointed not to win by a bigger margin - we were held up over the line twice and dropped balls just short of the line on at least two other occasions - but this told the story of Rovers’ defensive effort, they didn’t give anything away and all three tries came after sustained pressure.

We dominated possession and territory in both halves but Rovers led 3-0 through a Chris Sainty penalty midway through the first period. We hammered away at the Rovers defensive line and it took until 32 minutes for it to be breached when Stu Waites slipped through a gap between two defenders to touch down by the right hand post. He added the simple conversion but couldn’t extend the lead on the stroke of half-time with a longer range penalty that drifted across the face of the posts.

The second half was much the same story as the first - these derby games rarely produce highly entertaining rugby and this was no exception. Rovers continued to work hard in defence and stopped us gaining much continuity in our attack. Our best moments came in the early minutes of the half, a series of forward runs working the ball upfield before Sam Miller crashed over, Waites again adding the conversion.

It always looked a long way back for the visitors after this try but it took until 5 minutes from time for us to add a clinching score. With Carl Robinson boosting the scrum off the bench our pack drove Rovers back over their own line leaving Jon Boatman a simple touch down at the base. Waites once again made no mistake and added the extras.

Rovers were determined to go down with a fight and spent the last 5 minutes of the game firmly on the offensive. Our defence held on and eventually pushed play back out to the edge of the 22 but a series of penalties kept the visiting attack going. Eventually Michael Barnfield decided to chip and chase and Ian Pinchen’s late tackle resulted in referee Carl Hall awarding a penalty try. It was a fortuitous consolation but rewarded the visitors for manfully sticking to their task.
  



West: C Cheslin, Youll, Foreman, Edwards, Butcher, Waites, Painter, Pinchen, A Dixon, Coates, Hogan, Myers, S Miller, D Boatman, J Boatman:
Reps: C Robinson, Robson, Corbett, G Robinson, Southern, T Armstrong

Tries: Waites, Miller, J Boatman
Cons: Waites 3
YC: J Boatman, D Boatman, Pinchen.


Rovers: Sainty, Gunn, Evens, Coulson, Smith, Barnfield, Pelser, Little, Cushlow, Wise, Hanley, Pinchen, Church, Maddison, Dring.
Reps: Whitehead, Tucker, L Armstrong, Gallagher, Hogg, Stephenson, Buttery.

Try: Penalty
Con: Sainty
Pen: Sainty
YC: Maddison, Hanley, Gallagher

Referee: Carl Hall (Durham)