The frustrating thing for those wearing green was that West dominated the first half of this game and while not looking on top form, hardly looked like letting the game slip. But Rovers’ coach Steve Wallis must have said something right at the break as what was looking rosy for West soon turned sour. That said there were chances in the second half and in close derbies like this you can’t afford not to take them.

A large crowd was at Brinkburn for the first game on the new Catcote Road pitch, which held up quite well considering the amount of rain over the last few days. It was new signing Paul Hagan who opened the scoring for West after only 2 minutes with a simple penalty goal. Hagan, signed from Westoe in the close season, along with James Masshedar from Tech brings much needed depth to the goal-kicking department, so long relying exclusively on Davy Tighe.

The first half wasn’t a display of fluent rugby with both sides guilty of poor handling and West staying on top territorially thanks to the boot of Phil Wallis. Hagan doubled the lead on 25 minutes with another penalty after referee Chris Wray spotted a hand in the ruck but pushed a harder chance wide 10 minutes later following a late tackle on Wallis. The home forwards threatened the line with some strong running, coming onto the ball at pace and clearing the rucks well, but the Rovers defence held firm and they were eventually able to clear.
Just before half time Hagan notched up his third penalty from long range and going in at the break it certainly looked like the Friaragemen would face an uphill struggle to get back into the game, especially with Hagan in good kicking form.

But things can chance very quickly and only five minutes after the restart Rovers were back in the game with the first derby try of the season. Gareth Foreman looked to make a break on the short side but after nearly colliding with the referee he switched back to the open field and released Carl Robinson who broke through the line and beat the covering defenders to score. Robinson had not had the best of days up until that point and on this evidence maybe should have stuck to keeping the ball in hand than going for two long range drop goals in the first half. Foreman added the conversion to make it 9-7.

Hagan was again on target on 51 minutes to push West a little further in-front but the key moment came when, following a period of Rovers pressure, a rolling maul rumbled over the line and the try was awarded. Kiwi Jared Stevens emerged from the bottom of the pile with the ball (and maybe a nice try bonus from the sponsors). Foreman missed the conversion to leave the scoreboard at 12-12 and set up a tense final 25 minutes.

The two tries had shifted the dominance to Rovers and this time it was West struggling to gain any territory and at times losing their discipline and composure. The hosts best chance came when an Allan Milne break put Hagan away and into the 22. The ball was recycled well but with a huge overlap on the right and players screaming for the ball to be moved wide instead it was kept tight and lost due to an accidental offside.

Gareth Foreman gave Rovers their first lead of the game with a huge penalty shot on 61 minutes and then it was time for the visiting fans to start frantically checking their watches. Ian Drummond, having moved to fly-half after the departure of Robinson due to injury, was much more successful with the boot and made sure West were kept in their own half and in no position to change the result. Player after player went down with a knock or cramp to extend the amount of injury time but the second half was summed up for West by the last play which saw a pass roll along the ground to Hagan and be knocked on. The final whistle brought the usual scenes of agony and ecstasy just this time the roles were reversed.

So the ‘Indian-sign’ is lifted and its time for Rovers to have their moment of glory but the reality is, on these performances, neither team will worry many sides in the league this season. Both will have to play better and both probably will. Still, for West fans there’s no need to panic yet. Many of the mistakes could be put down early season rustiness, let’s just hope the rust wears of sooner rather than later and the knocks to Allan and Brett don’t prove to be serious.

West: Todd, Weegram, Hodgson, Milne (Williamson), Hagan, Wallis, Thomas, Cullinane (Cholmondeley), Sawyer, Carr, Rudd, Davies, J Boatman, Tones (Henderson), Bennett (capt).

Pens: Hagan 4

Rovers: P Hall, Lilley, Drummond, Rutherford, B Cushlow, Robinson (Charlton), G Foreman, Wise, Nichols, Stevens (Todd), Power (capt), Smith, S Hall, Kirton, White

Tries: Robinson, Stevens
Con: G Foreman
Pen: G Foreman

Referee: Chris Wray (Durham Society) [A good game on the whole, didn’t miss much and never allowed tempers to boil over. Still you’ll never please some Rovers fans heard commenting at the end..."West had 4 penalties for nowt!"....]