The victory was achieved on a day when West turned out three teams The Stags winning 66-5 in their CaNDY cup game at Hartlepool to keep their unbeaten record going, while the third team, hit by a handful of late cry-offs, went down 50-14 at Sunderland in the County Cup.

Jonny Boatman was due to line up for the thirds. Instead the 42-year-old surprised nobody by accepting the invitation to help ease West’s back row problems by going on the bench for the firsts. Thanks to a shoulder injury to Tom Robertson in the first half he saw more action than expected, but did get a ten-minute rest for a yellow card. With Connor McLurg replacing Robertson in the second row, Boatman joined Peter Youll and Charlie Kay in a back row which didn’t take a backward step all afternoon.

The backs had a much more familiar line-up and, with the breeze and the slope in their favour, they took the game to the hosts from the off. A penalty kick to the corner saw Jake Linighan take the ball – Upper Eden opting not to contest line-outs all afternoon. When the ball was spun out fly half Matt Siddle timed his pass to send Will Hilditch over to give West an early 7-0 lead.

Ollie Connolly looked to be in with a good chance of adding to that score when he burst through from the 22. It looked like he could make the line himself,  but opted to pass outside where a defender was just able to kill the ball.

Upper Eden were on the back foot in the first quarter. However, they did get a score when they managed to get into the West 22. They took advantage of several penalties to kick for the corner with second row Travis Simpson driven over from close range, but too far out for the conversion.

The home side then went ahead with referee Simon Barker awarding a penalty try ruling that Youll had pulled down a maul close to the West line.

West’s response was swift. The pace of the visiting backs was a feature all afternoon and, on his return to the starting line-up, winger Lewis Scott tore after a kick through from Siddle to win the race to touchdown. The score was level with Siddle’s conversion attempt wide.

From the restart Max Tennant was almost in at his corner as he chased down another kick only this time the bounce was unkind.

However, West soon regained the lead as man of the match Hilditch took an interception just inside the Upper Eden half. Last week a similar attempt resulted in a yellow card and a penalty try which gave Keswick an unlikely victory. This time the centre took the ball cleanly and showed a clean pair of heels all the way to the posts to give his side a 19-12 half time lead. With Boatman back after his yellow card, West had several chances to get the bonus point ty. Tennant almost got over in the corner before Sam Knight did cross the line after taking the ball at at close range. However, he was judged to have knocked on as he juggled the pass.

Upper Eden took the opportunity to clear with a goal-line drop out. They worked their way downfield West were again penalised ten metres out with centre Will Birkbeck forcing his way over from close range. The conversion attempt came back off the post to leave West with a two-point margin.

They looked to increase that with concerted pressure on the home line. Youll was in the thick of it and is now off for a week's ski-ing with his school sporting a black eye, which will no doubt amuse his students.  Both he and Kay were also judged to have been held up over the line before Siddle relieved anxieties with that fourth bonus point winning try.

A penalty kick to the corner saw Boatman make a burst for the line. When he was stopped the support was there to move the ball quickly left where Siddle gratefully accepted the opportunity to go over under the posts - his conversion ending the scoring for the afternoon.

The hard won five points closes the gap on third placed Morpeth to seven points with the Northumbrians next up at Brinkburn.

Upper Eden: Jay Elliott, Harley Sowerby, Liam Fox, Will Birkbeck (capt), Sam Edgar, Chris Birkbeck, James Bowman, Matt Sanderson, Tom Mooney, James Birkbeck, Isaac Dent, Travis Simpson, Michael Dunner, Fin Rose, Andy Major.

Reps (all used). Rob Dent, George Johnstone, Daniel Todd.

Tries: Simpson, pen.try, W. Birkbeck.

Cons: Todd.

West: Sam Knight, Lewis Scott, Will Hilditch, Ollie Connolly, Max Tennant, Matt Siddle, Ryan Painter (capt), Jack Angus, Aidan Jackson-Smith, Andrew Rollins, Jake Linighan, Tom Robertson, Connor McLurg, Charlie Kay, Peter Youll.

Reps used: Jon Boatman, Ben Reed. Not used: Liam Liston.

Tries: Hilditch (2), Scott, Siddle.

Cons: Siddle (3)

Yellow: Boatman.

Referee: Simon Barker (Cumbria)