Having been forced into four changes from last week’s winning team this was another impressive performance despite conceding our first tries of the season, two particularly soft ones coming in injury time at the end of the game.

It only soured very slightly what had been a very comfortable afternoon for the first hour with Northern not threatening much by way of attack. Stu Waites had an early shot at goal from long range which fell short but Owen Bennett opened the scoring after just 5 minutes, finishing off a rolling maul from a close lineout.

Waites missed the conversion from wide on the left but soon had another chance from the same position when Ryan Painter dove in for our second score. The ball was chipped through and the covering defender was forced to touch down and concede a 5 metre scrum. From that position the forwards made several surges for the line before Painter snuck under the visiting defensive line. Waites’ conversion drifted wide again to leave the score 10-0.

Skipper for the day Waites was on target with a penalty before Northern stand-off Ben Crossley blazed wide with a relatively easy penalty chance to open the visitors account.

With the half-time break looming Zac Southern got our third try, finishing off a move started with a great break and offload from Chris Atkins before Waites sweetly timed pass sent full-back Southern in at the left corner.

It wasn’t to be the last scoring action of the half though as Northern mounted a good attack and a half-break from prop Sam Wilson was well supported by second-row Jamie Powell who had enough strength to hold off the last ditch tackle and get across the line.

We started the second half quickly as we had in the first and got the bonus point try after just 2 minutes - Stu Waites capping off a busy afternoon with a try in the corner.

Northern bounced back again with a rolling maul try to cut the deficit back to 15 points but we wrapped up the game with two tries in 4 minutes just before the hour mark. Zac Southern picked up a bouncing pass to spin and go over then Andrew Rollins then got the pick of the tries (pictured), finishing off a sweeping team move with a try under the posts, although there was a hint of a forward pass as he received the ball in the 22.

Waites’ conversion for a 37-10 lead seemed to wrap up the game as a contest but as referee Carl Hall found 5 minutes of injury time Northern came to life and secured themselves a four-try bonus point to take back up the A19. First an attacking West scrum was turned into a try for the visitors as scrum-half Ali Gray ripped the ball from Sam Miller and raced 70 metres to finish off in the left corner. Then, almost from the restart, skipper Alex Clark went on a mazy run, evading defenders on all sides to score Northern’s fourth try.

A sloppy last 10 minutes will no doubt disappoint the coaching staff but ultimately the game was already won and taking into account the changes in the team this was another impressive win and will only help to build the confidence of the squad for games ahead.  

West: Zac Southern, Lewis Wilson, Stu Waites, Greg Edwards, Joe Willis, Gavin Painter, Ryan Painter, Adam Coates, Andrew Rollins, Ross Wood, Owen Bennett, Michael Hogan, Liam Bailey, Chris Atkins, Sam Miller.

Changes: Tom Shaw, Jack Angus, Jonny Heal

Tries: Bennett, R Painter, Southern, Waites, Edwards, Rollins
Cons: Waites 2
Pen: Waites

Northern: Jimmy Crowther, Lester Bell, Alex Clark (capt),  Paddy Harper,  Dom Fawcett,  Ben Crossley, Ali Gray, Sam Wilson, Ben Smallwood, Damian Martinez, Dave Snodin,. Jamie Powell, Rob Kinnell, James Nicoll, Tom Schofield.

Changes:  Matt Hirst, Donal Collins,  Hershall Ward

Tries: Powell, Fawcett, Gray, Clark

Referee: Carl Hall [Durham Society]