The home side came up from Durham and Northumberland Two before Covid, and most observers would not have expected this result before kick off - specially as Ponteland conceded more than 50 points themselves at a much fancied Percy Park last week.

Unfortunately, this week they saw the return of their dynamic half-back pairing of Patrick Holliday and Ryan Gerard. Their pace and creativity was the deciding factor in the game in which their team managed eight tries. That, and the fact that Ponteland's young side had the verve and skill to pounce on any West mistake to make massive inroads into our defence. Ponteland will be involved in a lot more high scoring games this season.

With five changes in the pack from last week, young Jacob Parker making his league debut at full back, a position he's never played before, and Jake Tennant his debut on the wing we looked at times like a team which had been thrown together, which indeed we were.

But the effort was there in abundance, as was the will to match the home side's eagerness to throw the ball about. Entertaining for the likes of Micky Young, who turned up to get a rare viewing of what he described  as "his club," and Sam Heron limping round the pitch after the midweek tractor accident, which saw him airflifted to hospital and photos of the incident show he lucky he was. He would have been at stand-off so Zac Southern manfully stepped up to cover.

One big plus was the performance of Jake Tennant who marked his debut with two excellent finishes and a solid all-round performance. Unfortunately, he's off to Liverpool University this Friday so home supporters will have to wait a while to see him in action. Such is life at Brinkburn at the moment.

There were also pluses in individual performances across the pitch. Teenage props Cameron Ellison and Adam Hutchinson learning from much more experienced opponents; Aidan Jackson-Smith coming in at hooker and doing a great job; big Tom Shaw helping Chris Atkins do the hard yards in  the back row; Isaac Robinson seemingly everywhere and Adam Brown coming off the bench to score two tries. Co-captains Ryan Painter and Jake Linighan fronted up throughout with Roo scoring our first try and big Jake being awarded our Man of the Match by the Ponteland players - he also won the drink off.

It's Aspatria at home next week with the promise of the return of some of the more established players. We do have a blend of experience and up and coming talent - getting the right mix on the pitch regularly will be the key to success this season and to helping develop the youngsters - in the first two games this season we have fielded 26 players.

Ponteland: Elliott Bain, Josh Beswick, Joe Nicholson, Ruaridh Binmore, Elliott Trott, Ryan Gerrard, Patrick Holliday, Stuart Browne, Austn Anderson, Lawrence Mew, Nathan Rebucha, Ben Wallace, Harvey Robson, Thomas Shaw, Josh Pratt.

Changes: Josh Stoker, Varaj Bai, Dan Carruthers.

West: Jacob Parker, Owen Westhorp, Lewis Scott, Will Hilditch, Jake Tennant, Zac Southern, Ryan Painter, Cameron Ellison, Aidan Jackson-Smith, Adam Hutchinson, Jake Linighan, James Tyers, Tom Shaw, Isaac Robinson, Chris Atkins.

Changes: Adam Brown, Owen Nugent, Danny Quinn.

Tries: Painter, Tennant (2), Brown (2).

Cons: Southern (3)