In quagmire conditions at Mitford Road West will rue not taking more advantage of their first half dominance. As conditions worsened in the second half their usual expansive game became almost impossible to play and nullified the danger men out wide. The risks in moving the ball inside your own half are always high and proved costly.

There was not much to choose between the sides and considering the conditions they produced an entertaining game. The result doesn’t lie though and once again West have failed to achieve what they need away from home and if they are going to become any kind of force to be reckoned with the “nearly” and “should have” games have to be turned into wins.


Morpeth started brightly and got an early penalty from the reliable boot of Matthew Jinks and squandered a try when Alan Rogers decided not to deliver a scoring pass and was bundled into touch after coming into the line nicely from full-back.

West put the early difficulties behind them and mounted some pressure of their own. They levelled the scores when Darren Thomas was on the wrong end of a high tackle and Paul Moss slotted the simple penalty goal after 17 minutes. They continued to press and got the first try of the game with 25 minutes played. The ball was moved wide after a maul and with Thomas coming into the line and drawing his man he put Martin Todd away. The winger beat the first man on the outside and then powered through another tackle to score in the corner. Moss had almost no chance with a wide conversion and it fell well short.

West got themselves into trouble straight for the restart though when Carl Robinson played volleyball with Morpeth number eight Ludford and set the hosts away. They thought they had scored soon after when winger Harper this time broke Todd’s tackle and stretched to the line but the referee, who was well positioned, ruled a knock-on when grounding the ball.

The same decision went the other way minutes later when in the opposite corner league debutant Chris Lambert chased a Moss kick and stripped the ball from the Morpeth defender but, having got to the line, also failed to ground the ball cleanly. The young winger had started extremely well and the try would have been no less than he deserved.

Jinks pulled back a penalty right on half time to leave the score 8-6 to West, a disappointing lead considering the territorial advantage they had enjoyed. But some silly play and indiscipline had been costly and the forwards were being pushed around in the scrum and seeing a lot of their usually good maul being spoilt. Still, having kept Morpeth to only two clear scoring opportunities, the defence was looking quite strong and there was no reason why they couldn’t go on to win the game.

West got on the front foot straight from the restart and after a sustained spell in the 22 Peter Hodgson got his third try in a week, diving over in the corner after Moss created some space with a strong hand off.

The game turned on 55 minutes when West moved the ball wide on their own 22 and the pass out to Todd dropped at his feet. Having knocked on he flicked a speculative reverse pass to Thomas with the whistle about to blow. But Morpeth winger Harper was there to intercept and with advantage played run in for an easy try. Jinks added the conversion to tie the scores at 13. West seemed to lose heart from this point and even though the scores were only level they seemed out of the game. 10 minutes later Jinks nudged Morpeth in front with another penalty and when Thomas was despatched to the sin-bin on 72 minutes any chance of a West comeback disappeared with him. The game was finally up when Fijian substitute Waqalebu burst through the West line and popped up to Burns who finished off the try and the game. Jinks maintained his perfect kicking record with the conversion.

When you consider that both teams scored two tries yet there is a 10-point difference in the totals you have to again raise the goal-kicking issue. It would be harsh on Moss to criticise two touchline conversion misses but West were awarded a lot penalties in this game (check Roy Kelly’s count in the Mail tomorrow) and need a sharp-shooter who can punish the oppositions indiscretions, especially when the conditions make running rugby extremely difficult.

Still I said in a match report a few weeks ago that West had to take at least 2 points from the 3 January games against Morpeth, Durham City and Beverley and that is still a real possibility. With Brinkburn rarely suffering from the type of heavy conditions seen today, running rugby should be on the menu next week against Durham City. Using SCH’s logic….if Rovers beat them and we beat Rovers it should be a walkover ;-) Hmmmmm

West: Thomas, Lambert, Edwards, Hodgson, Todd, Moss, Tighe, Carr, Cullinane, Robinson (Tones), Rudd, Davies, D Boatman, J Boatman, Sawyer
Reps not used: Wallis, Henderson

Tries: Todd, Hodgson
Pen: Moss
Sinbin: Thomas

Morpeth: Rogers, Cole (Waqalebu), Cunningham, Hills, Harper, Jinks, Jackson, Younger, Thornton, Dickinson, Forsythe, Morrison, Hall, Nelless, Ludford

Tries: Harper, Burns
Cons: Jinks 2
Pens: Jinks 3

Referee: Mark Sharpe [Northumberland Society]