Alnwick started the better of the two sides and spent most of the first 10 minutes inside the West half but crucially failed to convert the pressure into points and when West did manage to get up-field they looked dangerous. Strong running from the forwards, in particular Ryan Phillips and Jon Boatman brought play to inside the Alnwick 22 where following a break by Martin Todd, Chocky picked up a loose ball and went in untouched for an unconverted try.

West continued to look good going forward with the pack making good use of the pick and drive and also looking reasonably strong in defence. Alnwick did manage to cut the lead on 27 minutes with a 22m penalty from Greg Dawson who had gone wide with an easier attempt just 5 minutes earlier.

West nudged further in-front on the half hour when Davy slotted a penalty from in-front of the posts but that was soon cancelled out with a great penalty from Dawson from all of 40 metres out to make it 8-6.

The excellent loose play by the West forwards was still causing Alnwick problems and as half time approached Ryan Phillips went extremely close after bouncing off a couple of tackles and as the ball was recycled it looked like a try was on out wide but the ball went to ground. However an earlier Alnwick infringement gave West a kickable penalty but Davy’s attempt went just wide.


A cleverly worked kick off to the second half by West gained them some early pressure and this was rewarded on 10 minutes when Davy matched Dawsons earlier effort with a superb long range penalty.

The West defence looked much improved on previous weeks and the visitors struggled to make ground against solid tackling but with only a 5 point lead the game was still there for the taking. A period of Alnwick pressure led to a simple Dawson penalty on 18 minutes to once again close the gap. 11-9.

It looked like the game was setting itself up for a nail-biting finish once again but West replied immediately with more good running from the forwards in the loose. Chocky had looked very lively all day and went close on the blind side and when the ball came back Darren Thomas fed Ryan Phillips who bulldozed in from 5 metres. Davy got the conversion to make the score 18-9. Four minutes later West sealed the game with a try from Jon Boatman. A rolling maul following a lineout looked like going all the way but when it came to ground just short some simple passing put the flanker in at the corner for an unconverted try.

By this stage the game had got a bit scrappy and looked in danger of boiling over. It was a shame that as a reaction to this the referee decided to send Chocky to the sin-bin for allegedly pulling down a jumper at a lineout even though contact seemed at most minimal. It was certainly harsh and marred an otherwise outstanding performance.

Stu Bennett had replaced Carl Miller following the Boatman try and looked up for it making several storming runs one of which set up the try of the season, at least in one players eyes. The ball came out to Chummer who, with only one man to beat and support outside, might have just passed it out, but no! The prop forward threw an outrageous dummy and went in from 4 (or was it 40) metres! The try sealed the game and an excellent performance by West particularly by the forwards.

Despite the insistence of one Alnwick fan that his team would never tire they did look that way in the final quarter and kicked a lot of ball away which could, and probably should, have been run at West. However nothing can be taken away from the best performance of the season so far let’s hope we can continue it in the next two weeks away from home. Special mention has to be made of the front row who all had superb games and the lineout and scrum were solid all day. Chocky looked to be getting back to his best and with Tonesy and Garside due back soon competition for places is hotting up in the back row. It should be an interesting few weeks ahead.

West: Wallis, Abrahams, Todd, Hodgson, Hare, Tighe (capt), Thomas, Cholmondeley, Carr, Phillips, Miller (Bennett 66), Henderson, Davies, J Boatman, Sawyer
Reps: (not used) D Boatman, Edwards

Tries: Davies, Phillips, Boatman, Cholmondeley
Cons: Tighe
Pens: Tighe 2
Sinbin: Davies 68-78

Alnwick: Moses, Snaith, Kirkup, Robson, Howliston, Dawson, Manners, Armstrong, Allen, Elliot, Smith (capt), Currie, D Gray, S Gray, Archer
Reps: I Gray, Hall, Ord

Pens: Dawson 3
Sinbin: Robson 78