A big loss on a wet day for West End today but not in the eyes of the players, a great shift from every player on the pitch to take on a cracking side like Morpeth.
It all started with an early try from the kick off from West End, with the players handing out a few big hits and rucks to show what they are capable of. Morpeth with the first infringments of the game which led to the first try, a 5 metre penalty from the Morpeth try line which was taken quickly by Kay and offloaded to John McGrann who burst through the Morpeth defence and pushed over for his first try.
Unfortunately for West End, Morpeth's experienced pack controlled the lineouts and had a lot of possession especially when kicking up field to the left hand side of the pitch. From there they quickly potted 4 tries in due to some sloppy play which was self inflicted by West End. The first half was far from over with West End finding their feet and taking ownership of the play with great scrums and better competition at lineouts. The catch and drive was used effectively throughout the day which gave the forwards the chance to push again for Chris Hoskins to dive over and get a well worked try. It has to be said West End gave morpeth their trys with silly mistakes from the team and the play was not pushed wide enough to utilise the pace on the wings.
The second half came and West End stopped Morpeth with amazing play owning every bit of the ball. Making yards, breaking down tackles, winning scrums, lineouts and mauls. from there west end came close to scoring with all backs putting in a shift to make metres close to the try line. Unfortunately West End did not capitalise close to the line and lost the ball for Morpeth to score another great try.
After that the ball came loose for new second rower Michael Pritchard (father of the great Ewan Pritchard) as he dived onto the ball, where a Morpeth player kicked him in the face. Silly decision which led to a yellow but arguably could have been a red. From there West End played the game out and used every ounce of energy they had to finish the game however the damage had been done.
Tries: McGrann (1), Hoskins (1). Conv: McHugh (1)
Final score: Morpeth 33 - 12 West End
