Fifteen tries were scored as Percy Park deservedly secured a home play-off game against Keswick. Six of them were scored  by the away side, which is a feat in itself, but it was a performance marked by some excellent rugby mixed with some poor ball retention and unforced errors.

Back at Brinkburn things were less frenetic with the Bucks beating Houghton 43-28 to secure the Candy 3 Central title and the Stags beating Mowden IIs 31-12.

Up the A19 the first team continued their run of very poor starts - going behind after just 50 seconds. Park secured the kick off and moving the ball left where full back Joe Wotton collected outside his 22, stepped inside and hared up the pitch to score behind the posts. The 18 year-old is with the Sale Academy and this was a rare appearance for his home town club. One suspects he won’t be playing many more games at this level.

Young fly-half Jacob German is also pretty quick and before West had got their heads into gear he scored Park’s second - sprinting from his own half after selling a dummy to create the space.

Matt Siddle, in at fly-half for the golfing Jobe Roxby,  settled things down with a successful penalty.

Much of the play in the opening 40 minutes was in the Park half and the home side were giving away a number of  penalties. The problem for West was that whenever  Park got a sniff they scored a try.

Jacob Wood did well to stop winger Howard Stock in the corner. But from the lineout West were unable to clear and from the resulting  scrum prop Sam Digman was able to dive over. Fifteen minutes played and the visitors were 21-3 down.

With their tails up Park continued to attack from deep and, after artful dodger Wotton again tried to go from his own 22, the ball was transferred inside where German sprinted through a gap. He was able to shake off a tackle from Siddle to again go in under the posts from long range.

Skipper Chris Atkins pulled a hamstring  as he tried to stop the attack and was replaced by Ryan O’Keefe,  with Charlie Kay moving to the back row.

West then enjoyed their best spell of pressure, forcing penalty after penalty and opting for kicks to the corner. It finally paid off when Park were again penalised for offside on the 22 and the tap penalty found hooker Hayden Hodgson on the charge. The youngster made ten metres, and took a bad knock, but his efforts were worth it as Andrew Rollins took the ball on. When he  was stopped Matt Baggs was quick to collect and dart over to restore some pride.

At 28-10 at the break there was still some hope that West would produce another of their comebacks.  

However, Park had other ideas - scoring almost immediately after  the ball was spread right from a line-out. Scrum half Tom Robinson popping a pass to winger Tom Bird to score from close range.

The two packs continued to give it their all with referee Harry Graham eventually losing patience with the number of penalties the home side were conceding. Giant second row Josh Hedley the first to go for offside, followed one minute later by prop Nic Macklin-Copeland for a high tackle.

Before West could take advantage Charlie Kay was also in the sin-bin for deliberately knocking the ball out of scrum half Robinson’s hand.

However, West did get the next try and it was a well-deserved  first of the season for Elliot Reed. The Durham Under-20 flanker joined from Rovers to try his hand at a higher level,  but probably wasn’t expecting  to be playing  in the second row. Together with Charlie Kay,  he’s done a great job for the team in the absence of Jake Linighan, Will Corbett, Nick Bennions and Connor McLurg.

His reward  came after the hard-working Adam Hutchinson seized on a loose ball on the half-way.  When the prop  was stopped Siddle found Reed running a great line from outside the 22 . He rounded one defender to outpace another to go over (above) with Siddle taking the score to 33-17.

But once again the dangerous home backs were able to score with some ease. It was Wotton who came into the line from  scrum and dancing his way past four hapless tacklers as he went in at the corner.

Back came West with Hutchinson again getting his side onto the front foot with a 15 metre break into the Park half. Baggs, Siddle and Connolly spread the ball out wide to find Hodgson steaming in support in the outside centre channel  where  he was able to  send Max Tennant in - despite the attention of two tacklers.

Any hopes that West  could close the 16 point margin were thwarted by two gift tries for the home side.

The first came from a tap penalty inside the West 22 which saw Liam Pennick stripped of the ball as he tried to make progress. The ball was immediately moved left where Wotton was able to  complete his hat-trick.

Then three minutes later an attempt to run the ball from in front of the posts saw Siddle’s pass to Connolly go to ground. Centre Matt Dunn  having the simplest of tasks to go over with German taking the score to 45-22.

It only took a minute for Siddle to make amends. West were awarded a penalty in the Park 22 from the restart with Baggs’s quick tap stopped by Park before he could make any ground. Siddle seized on the restart with a bemused Park defence allowing him to cross the line unhindered,  but too far out for the conversion

The West fly-half was again in the thick of it after concerted pressure on the Park line saw him go through a gap. Jacob Wood was in support but was unable to take the final pass as Siddle was pushed in the back by centre Oliver Bartles-Smith. Mr. Graham awarding a penalty try.

However, Wood was not to be denied as he showed he could also score from his own half – coming into the line to take Siddle’s pass and shake off Wotton's challenge.

Almost inevitably the last word went to the home side with a more traditional score – a catch and drive finished off by flanker Leo Caulfield.

The result means that West finish seventh in the league. Notably as the third highest points scorers with 676,  but still with third highest points conceded  at 660.

Defence may therefore be one of the features of pre-season training where the coaches should  benefit  from the return to action of some of those  missing for most of this season. That together with the major bonus of the young players coming through such as Hayden Hodgson, Elliot  Reed, Joe Cholmondeley,  Louis Ward and Max Tobin.

Percy Park: Joe Wotton, Tom Bird (capt), Matt Dunn, Oli Bartles-Smith, Howard Stock, Jacob German, Tom Robinson, Nicholas Macklin-Copeland, Dan Shuttleworth, Sam Digman, Chris Reekie, Josh Hedley, Jonny Dubois, Leo Caulfield, Matt French.

Reps (all used): Austin Phillips, Paul Spowart, Dan Jackson.

Tries: Wotton(3), German (2), Digman, Bird,  Dunn, Caulfield

German (7)

Yellow: Hedley, Macklin-Copeland.

West: Lewis Scott, Jacob Wood, Oli Connolly, Keiran Scollay, Max Tennant, Matt Siddle, Matt Batt Baggs, Andrew Rollins, Hayden Hodgson, Adam Hutchinson, Charlie Kay, Elliot Reed,  Alex Barker, Isaac Robinson, Chris Atkins (capt).

Reps (all used). Liam Pemick, Ryan O’Keefe, Joe Cholmondeley.

Tries: Baggs, Reed, Tennant, Siddle, Pen.Try, Wood.

Pen: Siddle.

Cons: Siddle (4)

Referee: Harry Graham (Yorkshire).