West End RFC

West End 27 – 7 Consett III

What a day for West end. Good numbers meant we had a large squad to work with and the whole team came early and prepared to the game. getting out early to practice skills to use throughout the game, giving West End had the upper hand and looked like a winning team before the game even started.

Unfortunately, newcomer Dan Livingstone pulled his hamstring in the warm up and was cancelled out for the game, a big loss for West.

The game then started with West End shooting out of the blocks quickly with only 3 phases from the strong and brilliant West End forward pack pushing their weight upon the oppositions forwards. From there the backs controlled the ball using the p**s off ball twice in one play, thank you very much Scott Powell for the tips.

It then got spread out to the left where Joe Rowan passed the ball sweetly for Ewan Pritchard to easily score the first try of the game and make it 8 for him this season. Truly amazing play from West End scoring the quickest try of their season.

Shortly after a good bit of linked up back play, with a convincing dummy run from BAFTA nominated John McGrann, saw Marty McHugh push over the line to get more points on the board.

It didn't stop there at all with West End dominating the lineouts and obliterating the scrums, by far the best scrums of the season so far. This got West End far up the field for once again another try this came from a quick tap penalty from 10 yards with the number 8 Mike Marra dancing the passadoble through the multiple static defenders to score a great try.

After that West End still dominated the game with big kicks coming from Ali Thornton and Marty McHugh to gain more metres up the field. Then Joe Rowan taking huge lineouts for John McGrann to jump high like a giraffe and play the ball very well. Then an unexpected bit of play happened when Mark Highton got an egg to the face from a couple of feet which took him out of the game, very unfortunate for a player having a great game.

Then another horrid bit of play happened with Consett flying through the pack and pushing with multiple mauls to push across the line. West End lost composure when some players started arguing and losing their heads but that lasted for only a minor second, unfortunate for West End. The half time break came with West End leading 17-7.

15 minutes into the second half another injury blow came for West End with John McGrann hitting the floor after putting his head on the line and getting a palm to the jaw to stop a Consett forward from breaking through the pack. McGrann was withdrawn from the game after only recently coming back from a concussion as a precaution.

Then a debutant for West End came onto the pitch. Some say he dances in his spare time, some say he has won Strictly Come Dancing, well that was what he proved when the second rower Geordie O'Neil ran and danced the cha cha cha through multiple Consett players to gain at least 40 metres of the pitch, what an impact from the new West Ender. The forwards once again cleared incoming players to protect their fellow team mates, for Harvey Thompson to hit a hard line from a pass and speed his way through the Consett pack to score the best try of the game. A well-deserved try from possibly the best centre in the league at the moment, it has to be said though that half the credit goes to Dean Henderson as Harvey Thompson scored a wearing one of Dean’s boots at the time as he broke his boot through the match.

This great bit of play mean West End were up 27-7 and gave one player a bit too much confidence when Ali Thornton thought it would be a good idea to take a drop goal. Needless to say the score was still 27-7 after.

The home side again smashed the scrums, lineouts and mauls to take the ball up the field for the backs to take control again for the ball to get played along to Pritchard who scored a great try again, oh no wait he dropped the ball (knocked it on) instead of scoring, unfortunate from him.

On that bombshell the final whistle went and West End were ecstatic after proving why they are a team that can take things very far. Ian Grayson, the director of rugby for West, couldn't be happier with his teams amazing performance with West End praising him for his great managerial skills that he has showed throughout the season. Every player on that pitch played out of their skin to provide another win in the season and get a four try bonus point. Credit to Craig Allmond having a blinder at 12 and good to see returning faces of Matt Allmond and Wayne Lawson back on the pitch.

Tries: E Pritchard, McHugh, Marra, Thompson

Conv: McHugh (2)

Pen: McHugh (1)