TOO many mistakes and an inability to hold onto possession cost Waterloo dear as they went down 32-19 away to West Hartlepool.

West took the early lead with a penalty from Stuart Waite but with Martin Bell picking up from the back of a scrum, Sean Colbourne went through a gap to put James O'Brien in for the opening try.

West came back with a second penalty from Waite to make it 6-5 to the home side at the interval. West piled on the pressure in the second half with tries from Liam Bailey and Stephen Stockdale both converted by Waite.

Having made changes Waterloo hit back to within a point with a try from Alix Croft, the hooker seeing the gap after the pack had sucked in fringe defenders with some some forceful pick and go play.

Liam Reeve added the conversion and with the pack setting up good position, Ryan McKie was on hand to cross for a third, Reeve's conversion bringing Waterloo to within a point with just 10 minutes remaining.

Unfortunately as Waterloo began to chase the win gaps appeared and exploiting these to the full West sealed the win with tries from Gareth Eddy converted by Waite and Gareth Forman.