Westoe Cruise to Five-point Victory

South Shields Westoe travelled to Ponteland looking to continue where they left off last week after a tough match against Stockton.

After last week’s stunning show it was unlikely that today’s game would produce anything other than a five-point victory, but anyone expecting a similar performance were probably disappointed.

Westoe started the game in a lively manner and were met by a determined home side who tackled well and competed in the loose.

The first score came after eight minutes, a clean line-out set up a couple of strong drives before Sam Seymour spun the ball wide for Mikel Tate to beat the last defenders and speed into the corner. A fitting score on his season debut and coinciding with Kiss-a-Ginger day. 0-5

Two minutes later another line-out provided the platform for a Derek Worthington charge close in, John Younghusband providing the link to Sam Gaff for a converted score. 0-12

Try three came on 18minutes after a brief period of Ponteland pressure. A penalty allowed West to clear their lines and take the line-out. Quick ball was delivered to Fly-half, Jake Arnold, who stepped inside and sprinted 60m, converting his own score. 0-19

Never about to give in, Ponteland upped their efforts and fought back, playing their best rugby of the day and creating several scoring opportunities, only to be let down by handling errors out wide. They did strike back after 22 minutes with a score, after flooding the blind-side and showing good support play and offloading skills. 5-19

Westoe went into cruise control at this point, looking very lack lustre in both attack and defence for the remainder of the half, neither side impacting on the score-line further.

Straight from the kick-off, Westoe seemed to be back in control, harassing the home side from the restart and earning a penalty. They went to the line-out again, driving the ball over the line for the bonus point score, touched down by Raymie Elliott. 5-24

Ponteland came back strong and were threatening West’s line; however turnover ball allowed Jake Arnold to break free from his 22 with Joe McKenzie in support. McKenzie split the mid-field defence and offloaded to Mark Wilson who proved fast enough to speed to the line from 60m out. The converted try taking the lead to 5-31 and closing down any real chance of a comeback for the home side.

Westoe score two more tries in the final ten minutes, the first from a scrum five after Andrew Kirton was held up over the line. Sam Gaff picked, feeding Sam Seymour who found Martin Bengston on his shoulder for the touch-down. 5-36

Try number seven came from a driving maul spun to centre, McKenzie, to crash home under the posts, converted by Arnold to end the match, 5-43

Plaudits to the Ponteland players who fought throughout and never let their heads drop and created several scoring opportunities throughout the match.

Next week Westoe host foot of the table Whitby and will be gunning for another five point win.