It seems as though West can do no wrong at the moment and they must be wishing that this season could carry on for a while longer given the form and good fortune they are enjoying at the moment.

West only just made it into the semi finals by virtue of being the best runner up and they had to overcome group rivals Billingham to progress to the final where they made no mistake against their Scottish opponents.

West had made something of a habit of leaking early tries and Annan took the lead with a touchdown by Kevin Jones, Niall Smith slotting the conversion. The Brinkburn side then handed the ball to Chris Lambert on his 10 metre line and the flying machine was not going to be caught, Dave Tighe adding the extra points.

Annan were then caught out of position and Jonny Boatman had a simple run to the line, Tighe converting with Greg Edwards then saving West when he chased and caught Robert Currie. The resultant scrum saw Martin Todd show a clean pair of heels to the defence as he raced upfield, declining to give the accompanying Lambert a second try.

Tighe showed his experience to suck in the cover before moving the ball through to Jonny Boatman who could have made the line but unselfishly gave Paul Rudd a try. Tighe’s conversion increased the lead to 26-7 but Michael Griffin pulled five points back for Annan in the run up to half time.

Lambert’s pace was troubling Annan and he sent Darren Thomas clear with Tighe converting only for Griffin to again get on the scoresheet for Annan. Lambert with a try and conversion gave West a winning scoreline of 40-17.

Annan: Moffatt, R. Currie, Smith, Hogg, Jones, Griffin, Crowther, Carpenter, C. McCann, S. McCann, Kelly, E. Currie.

West: Tighe, Thomas, Weegram, Todd, Lambert, J. Boatman, D. Boatman, Hodgson, Edwards, Rudd, Williamson, Dixon.

West had started their Group B campaign with a 39-0 win over Athletic before losing 12-7 to Billingham and they needed to win and run up a big score against Horden to have any chance of progressing to the semi finals. The Collierymen had no answer to a rampant West who ran out 43-0 winners.

Rovers had won Pool A with a 100% record as had Annan in Group C, their victims including the Stags who went down 21-12. The Stags recovered to beat Rovers Heughers 47-0 before losing their final match 21-10 to Hartlepool.

Rovers narrowly lost the first semi final to Annan, who would take £300 as eventual ruuners up, 19-17 although the hosts could have stolen the win at the death had Gareth Foreman’s 40 metre penalty been a metre to the right, it just scraping past the left upright.

West made amends for their group stage defeat to Billingham by winning the second semi final 12-10 with two Jonny Boatman tries cancelling out a brace by Alec Garbutt, a Tighe conversion being the difference between the teams.

Rovers were forced to concede the Plate Final to Billingham with several players suffering knocks, Billingham taking the £200 third prize as a result.

Skipper Dave Tighe received the McArdles Cup and a cheque for £500 from Rovers’ Chairman Phil Mitchell to round off a good afternoon’s work.

Group A: Rovers 22 Tech 17; BBOB 7 Seaton 24; Rovers 31 Seaton 14; Tech 19 BBOB 17; Rovers 54 BBOB 0; Tech 0 Seaton 41.

Group B: Athletic 0 West 39; Billingham 19 Horden 5; Athletic 0 Horden 25; West 7 Billingham 12; Athletic 0 Billingham 34; West 43 Horden 0.

Group C: Annan 21 West Stags12; Rovers Heughers 7 Hartlepool 31; Annan 38 Hartlepool 0; West Stags 47 Rovers Heughers 0; Annan 66 Rovers Heughers 0; West Stags 10 Hartlepool 21.

Semi Finals: Rovers 17 Annan 19; Billingham 10 West 12.

Plate Final: Billingham walkover

Final: Annan 17 West 40