You had to feel a little sorry for Park at the end of the game as West have lost to worse teams this season and they had tried to play running rugby all day, never giving in and deserve credit for that with such a depleted squad. For West it just came good after a slow start and they finished off almost every period of pressure with a try. And what’s more they managed to finish quite a few under the posts, giving kicker Paul Moss a chance to get some confidence kicking for goal.

It couldn’t have been a bigger turn around from last week but there were still some concerns with Park getting a soft try and had Thomas Turnbull brought his goal kicking boots they could have faced an early deficit. Had more than one of three penalty shots gone over inside the first 10 minutes, not to mention a scuffed drop goal, it might have been a different story. The third, and most difficult, shot finally gave the North Shields side the lead.

20 minutes had gone by the time West got started and the forwards got two mauls rolling well up to the line and a try looked on when the ball came wide but a pass went to ground and play retreated all the way back to half way. But West retained possession and Paul Moss, seeing a gap, darted through and a missed tackle helped him scamper in under the posts and follow it with a simple conversion.

West doubled their tally just 3 minutes later when Davy Tighe made a break from the base of a ruck and sent Chocky galloping away in a similar fashion to the last minute try last week! With a winger in hot pursuit it looked as though the big second row would be caught but he turned on the pace and went over untouched, again under the posts to make it simple for Moss.

Park got one back though when West tried to be a little too expansive in their own 22 and a pop pass from Martin Todd gifted a Park player an early Christmas present. Turnbull converting.

Another brace of tries came on 34 and 39 minutes with first Paul Rudd fending off a tackle to go over after a tap penalty from Tighe in the shadow of the posts then Todd made up for the earlier mistake when a simple short side move from a scrum involving Tim Sawyer and Tighe sent the winger in for an easy score.

Considering their slow start West had to be happy with a half time score of 24-10 and showing some clinical finishing in the opposition 22 things were looking good for the second half.

And so it proved when Dan Boatman went in with only 5 second half minutes gone after several phases and some patient West attacking play. Moss added his third conversion and made it a fourth 10 minutes later when Tighe intercepted a pass at the base of a Park scrum and dashed 10 metres to the line.

Things were really opening up for West now and they were looking to run from all over the field. Again credit must go to Park who, when getting the ball, also looked to run and showed some good handling at times just got a little loose at key points and allowed errors to creep in. With a few key players back they will upset teams this season.

Andrew Hare got his first try since returning form injury with good strength out-wide, fending off two tackles after an excellent run out of defence by Peter Hodgson. Greg Edwards stormed out of defence again on 70 minutes and didn’t quite have the pace to make the line, but supplied the scoring pass for Todd’s second and just three minutes later Moss dropped in a perfect cross-field kick to Hare who turned provider for substitute James Masshedar who outpaced the defence for the ninth try of a superb afternoon for West.

In a way it’s a shame this result comes with a three week break from league action coming up but with the Boxing Day derby with Rovers the only game before a tough January schedule West must carry this momentum forward and look to pick up at least 2 points from the 6 available against Morpeth, Durham City and Beverley in the first month of 2006.


West: Thomas (Masshesdar), Hare, Edwards, Hodgson, Todd, Moss, Tighe, Carr, Cullinane, Cholmondeley (Robinson), Rudd (Miller), Davies, D Boatman, J Boatman, Sawyer

Tries: Moss, Davies, Rudd, Todd 2, D Boatman, Tighe, Hare, Masshedar
Cons: Moss 5

Percy Park: Singleton, Bell, Debnam, Griffiths, Clarkson, Turnbull, Conn, Neill, Donald, Biggins, Sylph, Fidler, Dunn, Heenan, Dixon (capt)
Reps: Armstrong, Gilroy, Graham

Try: ?
Con: Turnbull
Pen: Turnbull
Sinbin: Dunn

Referee: Mike Hodgson (Durham Society)