Bellerby moved to full-back, and with Dewhirst nursing an injury Short came into centre, and Wager in at wing.
Gateshead had the first attack, but West held them and soon scored, with the ball moving along the line for flanker Aaron Myers to go over. Bellerby converted, and when he added a penalty a few minutes later it looked as though West were going to run away with the game. Gateshead came back however, and forced some errors from West. When West then compounded these errors by uttering a few unwise comments, the ref walked them back towards their line, and the nippy Fell centre managed to evade a couple of weak tackles and score under the posts. This raised Fell’s game and they held the score to 10-7 at half-time.
West started the second-half more strongly, and regained the lead when Rob Bellerby picked up from his own chip into space, and released winger Luke Austin for a try in the corner. Gateshead replied with a penalty, to bring them back to within a score, but then in the final twenty minutes West asserted themselves, and ran in more tries from front-row Ross Wood, centre Chris Lambert and Bellerby
With only six sides entering the competition, this win puts West into the final. I’ve been told that Rovers were unable to field a side for the other semi-final against Darlington, so we wait to see whether they are allowed to replay, or whether we face Darlington yet again.
Gateshead 10 West 18s 34
By Jon Dewhirst - January 26 2006
Although West Under 18s came out comfortable winners in the end, Fell gave them a hard fight for much of the game, and it was never as easy as the score suggests. From the usual Colts squad, Miller and Hunt were ineligible, and Close, Evens and Murray unavailable.