West had five missing: James Evens and captain Tom Dixon injured, John Greenwell suspended, Sean Cairns unavailable, and Aaron Myers on England duty. Jonathan Norris and Peter Dewhirst were back from injury, and were on the bench along with Liam Wager and ex-Rover Tom King. The late cancellation of today’s county match meant that the representative players were unexpectedly available.

West started strongly and only some poor handling twice prevented them taking an early lead. They were cutting through the first one or two tackles fairly easily, and eventually second-row Andy Robson burst through on a strong run down the left wing, and touched down under the posts. Rob Bellerby converted.

West continued to dominate, and added two more tries as wingers Luke Austin and Stephen Short both found themselves at the end of good handling moves, and both went over for impressive tries. Rovers pulled a try back at the end of the half to give West a 17-7 lead at half-time.

In the second half West continued to pull away, while Rovers rarely threatened. Short got his second try with a powerful solo run from 50 yards out, full back Bellerby chose a good line to pick up a pass and score, and another Bellerby break allowed King, playing at scrum half, to touch down on his debut. Bellerby added two conversions and a penalty, and prop Chris Forrest put over another conversion to give West a convincing 41-7 victory.

Next week sees the next round of the National Colts’ Cup, with West away at Cleckheaton (kick-off still to be arranged).