West have now won four games on the spin at home, once again making Brinkburn a difficult place for any side to come and win. However, the relegation battle may depend on what points can be gained on the road and winning away from Hartlepool is something West have yet to do this season.

It didn’t take long to start the scoring with Morpeth having all the early play and fly-half Matthew Jinks slotting two penalties within the first 5 minutes. It looked like West were going to be in for a tough afternoon but that proved to be the last of the visitors scoring. Davy Tighe closed the gap to just three points with a penalty on 10 minutes.

Both sides were making some loose passes but other than Morpeth’s dominance in the scrum it was the home side looking the more dangerous. Several overlap opportunities went begging but as in previous weeks the forwards were working extremely hard in the loose and consistently making ground. Their hard work was rewarded with another Tighe penalty on the half hour to level the scores.

Within three minutes West extended the lead with the first try of the game. After a couple of tap penalties close to the line Darren Thomas sent Anth Carr diving over for the score. Tighe went wide with the conversion but his side were growing in confidence and looking hungry for more points before the break. However, to their credit, Morpeth spent most of the remainder of the half inside West territory but were all to often thwarted by excellent work in defence from the home forwards who regularly stopped their opponents behind the gain line and forced turnovers. One such turnover led to a great break from defence featuring Thomas, Tommy Barff and Paul Rudd but it was stopped short and the half-time whistle blew.

At 11-6 the game was hardly over and both teams would have been looking to start the second half the brighter. Now playing with the slight breeze at their backs it was West who took advantage with Morpeth looking increasingly uncomfortable and unable to clear their lines. Tighe added a long range penalty on 48 minutes before a powerful rolling maul got West within five metres of the try-line. The ball came back quickly as the maul went to ground and some simple passing put Allan Milne over in the corner. This was a crucial score and even though Tighe missed a difficult conversion it now looked a long way back for the Northumberland side.

With almost an hour gone Morpeth managed to get some territory and get on the front foot for the first time in the half. There was no shortage of effort from their big pack but once again the firm West defence refused to be broken. Even when Davies went to the sin bin following an incident at the base of a ruck the visitors could not add to their first half tally. Tighe continued to extend the lead in the last quarter with two excellent penalties on 73 and 77 minutes.

This was an important win for West and will no doubt please the coaching team who saw the defence looking much more solid than at times in the first half of the season and also periods of pressure converted into points. A tough trip to second place Huddersfield awaits next week where once again the forwards will be put under a lot of pressure. But with the commitment shown today there’s every reason to be optimistic.


West: Todd, Barff (Wallis 73), Hodgson, Milne, Hare, Tighe (capt), Thomas, Cullinane, Carr, Phillips, Rudd, Davies (Henderson 77), J Boatman, Tones, Sawyer

Tries: Carr, Milne
Pens: Tighe 5

Morpeth: Harper, Weatherspoon, Hall, Stewart, Rogers, Jinks, Reynolds, Leiper, Pringle, Dickenson, Stafford (capt), Morrison, Younger, Nelless, Ludford
Reps: Jackson, Goodfellow, Walton

Pens: Jinks 2

Referee: Steve Havery
Pens: West 11 Morpeth 6