Better luck for the Stags who won their CaNDY league game at Sunderland 19-0. West Bucks losing 18-10 at home to Sunderland Keelmen.

Sunderland’s First XV have made an excellent start to life in Regional 2 North and arrived with a settled and well-drilled side bolstered by some free running backs.

West went into the game having  stood toe-to-toe with early league leaders Northern and Percy Park but had to field a rejigged pack. Line-out expert Jake Linighan having undergone a minor foot operation in midweek and with Nick Bennions, Adam Hutchinson, Will Corbett and last week’s Man of the Match Aidan Jackson-Smith all missing.

In came Ollie Webster and Elliott Reed in the second row with Chino Rocha making his debut in the back row and going on to have a fine game. Both he and Ollie Connolly (above) putting in some  tremendous tackles.

Despite the incessant rain both sides made a lively start with West taking an early lead from a 45 metre penalty from the boot of fly-half Jobe Roxby. It came after an early exit for full-back Ben Reed with a shoulder injury - Will Hilditch coming onto the wing and Sam Knight going to full back..

West went further ahead on 25 minutes when skipper Chris Atkins cleverly flipped he ball through his legs from a scrum to send Matt Siddle in at the corner from close range.

The conversion was wide, but West did go into the break with  an 8-0 lead after defending in their 22 in the last five minutes of the half. Sunderland’s line-out was proving effective and the visitors had opted for a penalty kick to the corner instead of a shot at the posts. However, they knocked on as they attacked on the right and West cleared the danger when Sunderland were penalised at the resulting scrum.

They did opt for the shot at posts shortly after the restart to take the score to 8-3,  before West’s most promising attack of the half just failed to produce a score.

Jacob Wood, on in the first half for an injured Sam Knight, combined with Atkins and Matt Siddle up the left with the West scrum-half putting in a deft  grubber kick  to the corner. Rocha was in hot pursuit only to see the ball  go into touch.

However, the pressure was maintained and West restored their eight point advantage with a second Roxby penalty.

That was as good as it got for West as Sunderland stepped up their game. The Brinkburn side defended well as the rain got heavier - confining the visitors to a successful penalty to reduce the arrears to just five points .

However, the game changed on the hour after lively Sunderland fly-half Ben Hutchinson made a break into the home 22. He was eventually stopped five metres short with West hooker Andrew Rollins yellow carded for “playing the player.”

West managed to prevent Sunderland from scoring for the scrum penalty, but with a  man down they were on the back foot. The pressure eventually telling as full back Marc Edmundson found space in the left corner to level the scores.

It was a very difficult conversion for second row Dev Koca. However, he nailed it to give his side the lead for the first and final time – much to the delight of the visiting supporters.

With Rollins back on West had ten minutes to stage another of their comebacks . There was the chance of another penalty shot at goal from just inside the Sunderland half. Instead,  the option to kick for the corner was taken, unfortunately the kick wasn’t deep enough to worry the solid Sunderland line-out.

No game next week so two weeks for West to work on getting the season back on track.

West: Ben Reed, Sam Knight, Ollie Connolly, Peter Youll, Lewis Scott, Jobe Roxby, Matt Siddle, Jack Angus, Andrew Rollins, Liam Pennick, Ollie Webster, Elliott Reed, Alex Barker, Mauro Rocha, Chris Atkins (capt).

Reps (all used): Matt Ward, Will Hilditch, Jacob Wood.

Tries: Siddle.

Pens: Roxby (2).

Yellow: Rollins

Sunderland:  Marc Edmundosn, PJ Fincken-Hayes, Dean Edmindson, Ethan Sutcliffe, Adam Stormont, Ben Hutcinson (capt), Alex Lamb, Mason Burnett, Peter Harrison, Devrim Koca, Luke Bryan-Victory, Leon Ryan, Marcus Harris, Faral Chikumbirike, Michael Holder.

Reps (all used): Craig Wison, Jack Hadlington, Zach Campbell.

Tries: M. Edmundson.

Con: Koca.

Pens :Koca (2)

Referee: Yannick Debil (Northumberland).

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