West were still not on top of their game but the evidence of the wins over Alnwick and Westoe was there to be seen. Anyone who watched the games at Redcar and Horden would be overjoyed to see some life in the side again and some of the problems from those games not apparent. On another day Driffield could easily have won this game and left West rueing a territorial advantage not converted into points but credit to the defence which held firm when it mattered.

West were quickly out of the blocks and after some early pressure in the 22 took the lead with a Davy Tighe penalty after only 4 minutes. His opposite number Rook levelled the scores on 10 minutes with a well struck penalty which looked to drift wide but the touch judges were happy.

The home side responded well though and got the first try of the game on 17 minutes. Martin Todd went close after a break on the short side from a scrum and quick ball saw Chocky charge over from a few metres out. A strong cross-field wind was making goal kicking tricky and Davy missed the conversion.

The game was riddled with knock-ons and some scrappy play by both sides and while West dominated most of the half there was no further score. Davy Tighe was looking lively and a break of his almost put Carl Miller in only for rugby league man Ali McClarron to make a good last ditch tackle. McClarron was soon back in action at the other end creating a good attacking position with a strong run and as the forwards moved the ball well up to the line a certain try looked on but Darren Thomas somehow got across and prevented the touch down to keep the score at 8-3 at half time.

West started the second half just as well as the first. Another Davy break saw the scrum half stopped just short but the ball came back quickly and Allan Milne was on hand to dive over for the score. The conversion was just wide. The game was now there for the taking and West looked like doing exactly that with some powerful running from the restart. But a few handling errors were to prove costly and only 10 points down Driffield were far from out of it. Rook put the Yorkshire outfit back within a score with a simple penalty on 49 minutes.

Going into the final quarter it was clear this was going to be another Brinkburn special, the result in doubt right to the last whistle. West seemed no longer to be able to get anything going in attack and were now just throwing everything at Driffield to try and keep them out. After turning down a couple of reasonable shots at goal the visitors got the try they were looking for with 10 minutes to go following a lineout and rolling maul, substitute winger Furbank touching down. Unfortunately it was right in the corner leaving Rook almost no chance with the conversion.

2 points the difference and 10 minutes to play. It was tense all the way with Driffield attacking for most of the latter stages but the West defence was tough to break down and the handling in the Driffield backs could have been better at crucial times. A couple of big kicks from Jamie Hauxwell eased the pressure a bit and eventually a penalty allowed him to kick into touch and with Chris Wray’s whistle, celebrate the win.

It was probably the right result even though West lost their way a bit in the latter stages, once again proving that they can be more than competitive against the best sides in the league. Everyone would agree what mattered today was getting a result so that the relegation threat would be gone. Let’s hope the trip to Alnwick can see some of the away game demons put to rest now that nothing is on the line.


West: Thomas (Wallis 75), Todd, Hodgson, Milne, Hare, Hauxwell, Tighe, Cullinane, Carr, Cholmondeley, Miller (D Boatman 75), Davies, Rudd, Tones (Sawyer 50), J Boatman

Tries: Davies, Milne
Pen: Tighe

Sinbin: Tones 25

Driffield: Foster, Piercey, G Stephenson, Booth, A McClarron, Birch, Rook, Borman, Yates, Dervey, Carroll, Turton, Notley, J Stephenson, Jones
Reps: Furbank, Holland, Cooper

Try: Furbank
Pens: Rook 2

Referee: Chris Wray (Durham)