West Norfolk hosted Wanstead at Gatehouse on Saturday in their latest round of the league season. With West now fighting it out to reach mid table safety, they were looking to utilise their fast back line against a strong and large Wanstead squad.
Fortunately for the home side, the weather was cold, crisp and sunny, with the ground perfect for some free flowing rugby.

West were able to boast a near full strength line up and, with Wanstead playing into the sun in the first half, were looking to spin the ball out wide from the off.
Within only a few minutes it was becoming evident that the visitors would struggle to contain West outside the pack as they came under immense pressure from the speedy trio of Trim, Singleton and Anderson. West were almost instantly rewarded for this ambitious play after a Trim break down the right. A quickly recycled ball saw an offload to Singleton, who cut in sharply to slice through the defense and touch down by the posts. Hogan coolly converted to make it 7-0 to West with barely 5 minutes played.

To Wansteads’ credit they responded admirably and, using their big forward pack, began to rumble the ball up into the West half with several close range crash balls from their No. 8 and centres. This set the pattern for the rest of the half with West looking threatening every time they attacked out wide, but with Wanstead in control at the scrums the visitors were managing to develop their own attacks around the flanks.

It was during this period of the half where West did verge on the edge of breaking free on more than one occasion. Unfortunately, due to a mix of poor finishing and referee interpretations of what constitutes a forward pass, West were denied any further scores before the interval. In fact it was Wanstead who had the last word. After a series of powerful drives, they spun the ball out wide where there winger touched down in the corner, taking the score to 7-5 to West at half time.

West started the second half with Savage and Bridges coming on to help shore up the scrums. With the pack now providing a more solid attacking base from the set pieces, which included some fine disruptive defensive line out play from the likes of Cook and Marchant, West were beginning to take control of the match.

Once again, West did struggle to capitalise on their possession and were unable to finish off some good phases of play when they threatened the Wanstead goal line. In addition, frustration did start to creep in as West were arguably unfairly penalised on several occasions for taking the ball from the opposition whilst still on their feet.
However, this only seemed to galvanise the team and, more determined than ever to take the game away from Wanstead, some quickly recycled ruck balls provided the West backs the ammunition to spread the ball wide and attack from deep. After a period of sustained pressure Wanstead gave way once more as they were unable to cope with the pace of Wests play. Another break from the back line saw Trims once again burst through, who then set Singleton free on another mazy run to score. Hogan converted to make it 14-5 to West.

Thurston, who always gives his all in the forward exchanges, was replaced by Evans at flanker, who made an immediate impact after gathering a loose lineout ball to bulldoze his way through the Wanstead defense, gaining many vital yards. The ball was spun out wide only for West to be denied just short of the line.

Wests final score of the day came after a short range line out attack. Savage gathered the ball from a tap down at the back from Cook, but was stopped just short of the line. Some aggressive rucking saw the ball recycled back to West forwards. No. 8 Williamson, who had another typically strong game for the home team powered over the line to score from a close range driving maul. This took the score to 19-5.

The dying minutes of the game saw Wanstead attempt to string some last gasp attacks together, which resulted in them coming close to scoring, but the West defense held firm and the home team where able to close the game out with a hansom winning margin.

Man of the Match goes to Singleton. Next week sees West make the long trip down to Upminster in what will be a vital game in the fight to stay away from the relegation zone in the league.


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