Much had been made pre-match of the Rovers backs division’s creative ability but bar two first half breaks from Paul Kirton they did very little and could hardly sight many wasted opportunities. The forwards had two or three mauls in the 22 and Gareth Foreman fumbled away a certain try on a hack through but that was the extent of Rovers’ try scoring chances.

It was a typical derby-like tight first half with West dominating the most part thanks to some astute kicking helped by a gusting wind. For Rovers Gareth Foreman missed touch on numerous occasions and failing to capitalise on several early mistakes in the line-out from the visitors. But as space opened up in the second half and West’s lively youngsters looked to run the ball from deep the West fans and neutrals in the crowd were treated to some fantastic rugby, not seen in any of the recent derby encounters between these two bitter rivals.

Despite West having an early lineout close to the Rovers line it was the hosts who had the first scoring chance when Kirton broke from defence and a penalty was awarded to his side. Gareth Foreman had a long shot at goal but it missed well to the left of the posts. Paul Moss and Darren Thomas were both kicking well and ensured that West played the game in the opposition half. The deadlock was finally broken after 19 minutes when Davy Tighe broke on the blind side from a scrum and timed his pass well to Andrew Hare who went over in the corner.

West continued to dominate territorially but couldn’t add to the score in the first half, strangely turning down a simple penalty shot in favour of a tap which came to nothing. Facing the wind in the second half it looked like a slim 5 point lead would be difficult to defend and would certainly have to keep in the ball in hand rather than look to the boot.

Rovers might have taken the lead with 50 minutes gone when first a maul drove over the line but referee Ray Sutherland couldn’t see under the pile of bodies (although some eyes 50 yards claimed a certain try(!)) and then Gareth Forman hacked a loose ball through only to fumble with the line at his mercy. They did get on the board though when Tim Sawyer was penalised having looked to legally turn over ball in front of the posts and Foreman made no mistake from the 22.

West changed both wingers after the score with birthday boy Chris Lambert and Danny Weegram replacing try scorer Hare and Martin Todd. The pair had been on barely 10 minutes when Weegram collected a long kick in his own half and looked to run it back. With nothing appearing on he passed out to Lambert and the 18 year old showed a great turn of pace to the outside and when tackled off-loaded tremendously to Darren Thomas. The full back broke clear and when the ball was fed back inside it found its way to another replacement, Paul Rudd, who galloped in from the 22 for a brilliant try, worthy of the Boxing Day history books. Wallis added the simple conversion and with a 12-3 lead and 20 minutes to play it was looking an uphill struggle for Rovers but thwy were far from out of the game.

As it was they never really got a look in from that point. With 63 minutes gone another good run and offload from Lambert allowed Thomas to chip through and when the bounce thwarted the initial chasers, Greg Edwards was on hand to touch down and put the game pretty much safe at 17-3.

The misery only continued for the Friarage faithful who, on seeing Davy Tighe dive in for the fourth try on 71 minutes headed for the exits. Paul Kirton was lucky not to join them after a cynical trip on Wallis, clean through for a score, the referee clearly feeling generous in not producing a yellow card or awarding a penalty try! Peter Hodgson added another score with 3 minutes to go and after the restart was recovered by Rovers but knocked on, Mr Sutherland decided that was that and blew the final whistle on a convincing victory for the men from Brinkburn.

It all adds further interest to the final meeting of the season on March 11th, again at the Friarage, with one match a piece and valuable league points to play for it will be a mouth-watering encounter.

For West, the days of struggling try scorers are certainly behind them. Another 5 today and coaches Stubbs, Burgon and Stabler must have been excited by some of the running rugby on display in the final quarter of the game. They got a brief look at Aaron Myers and Chris Lambert and Weegram made strong cases for first team selection with Darren Thomas also outstanding from full-back. The youngsters will surely feature again against Horden on Friday with the coaching team looking for options going into the second half of the season.

A great game (if you support West that is) watched by a big crowd. Bring on round 3!


West: Thomas, Hare (Lambert), Edwards, Hodgson, Todd (Weegram), Moss (Wallis), Tighe, Carr, Cullinane, Phillips, Miller (Rudd), Davies (Henderson), D Boatman (Tones), J Boatman, Sawyer (Myers)

Tries: Hare, Rudd, Edwards, Tighe, Hodgson
Cons: Wallis, Tighe
Sinbin: Carr


Rovers: Nicholson, B Cushlow, Rutherford, Kirton, Lilley, G Foreman, A Foreman, Stevens, Campbell, Wise, Power, Smith, Wallis, Hall, White

Pen: G Foreman
Sinbin: Smith

Referee: Ray Sutherland (Durham Society)