Blyth 7 - West End 14
A great game for West End today picking up another huge win for the league.
It all started with a few big hits from the forwards taking control of the game from the off, with once again well organised lineouts and rucks, not so much the scrums but work can be done. Forwards and backs combined utilising the pace and power together as one giving West End the upper hand and dominating from there with Blyth not attacking at all in the 22 for the first half.
The first try came with a bizarre bit of play from the evergreen Tony Kay. The skipper took the ball from a quick tap penalty and dived for the line for a try. What really happened was Tony Kay saw a similar looking line to the try line (5 metre line) and dived for it, luckily enough though he spotted the mistake quickly and rose like a phoenix to jump over the line and score the first try of the day which was well deserved.
West End were leading going into the second half 7-0 thanks to a great conversion from Marty McHugh. The second half was as the first with Harvey Thompson and Jacob Foy making big hits and strong rucking straight from the boot. The forwards really showed their prowess, with every forward putting in an overloaded shift with huge tackles smashing the Blyth players.
West End showed again their ruthless catch and drives, once again driving the ball over the try line with Chris Hosking planting the ball into the turf again this season really well deserved from arguably one of the best forwards in the league along side the West End forward pack that have been involved in the recent back to back wins.
A lack of discipline crept in as West End lost their heads a little with players being off side a few times which led to a Blyth try and West End needing to wake up in the last few minutes of the match. The forwards once again gave it their all in rucks to rip the ball back in crucial moments, it was then passed onto either Ali Thornton or Marty McHugh who have kicked well lately where they kicked for possession and touch.
West End had a very good defensive moment when they stopped Blyth from scoring another try, we do have to mention out of every player on the pitch making defensive tackles that Ewan Pritchard made a try saving tackle in this breakdown to decline a try from the Blyth pack, once again what would they do without this boy.
That was the match, the whistle blew and West End celebrated with players deservingly jumping in the air and enjoying another win in the league. Massive thanks to Blyth for a great game and good heart throughout. Still many things to work on in the West End camp but a very good win.
Team sheet for todays game vs Blyth
Forwards
CHRIS HOSKING (1 TRY)
DEAN HENDERSON
KEN PURVIS
JACOB FOY
JAMIE SHILLING
JAMIE HUTCHINSON
DAN LIVINGSTONE
ADAM HEALY
Backs
EWAN PRITCHARD
MARK WILCOX
MARTY MCHUGH (2 CONVERSIONS)
TONY KAY (1 TRY)
ALI THORNTON
HARVEY THOMPSON
ANDREAS HAAGEMAN
