Widnes West Bank 20 Haresfinch 0 (From Runcorn and Widnes World)

Widnes West Bank 20 Haresfinch 0

12:00pm Thursday 28th January 2010

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THE long break didn't seem to have had much effect on the energetic Bears as they ripped into Haresfinch from the off.

Big hitting from Paul Curphey, Ryan Bates and Mark Hardman restricted the visitors to occasional half breaks giving West Bank overwhelming field position.

However Haresfinch were not about to lay down and die and enthusiastic scrambling aided and abetted by a frustrating propensity for throwing forward passes in try scoring kept West Bank's scoring opportunities to a minimum.

Building on the forward charges of Wayne Courtnage, Craig Simm and Sean Gilmore the home side favoured the left hand side for their attacks trying to bring new signing Paul Airey into the game and one such foray produced the first clean chance which Mickey Kelly took full advantage of to open the scoring.

Ste Mellor converted from wide out.

West Bank was able to keep pressure on by interchanging Carl Fletcher and Lee Forshaw in the crucial front row battle.

Within minutes Ste Curphey's quick thinking took advantage when for once Haresfinch couldn't reorganise quickly enough following a Bears attack.

Mellor converted again to bring up a 12-0 half time lead.

Any thoughts that the hard work had been done were immediately dispelled when the visitors showed plenty of enterprise to severely test the Bears marker defence but eventually overwhelming field position told and the introduction of Tommy Arrowsmith for his first game of the season allowed West Bank to close out the game with a further try by Kelly and a last gasp well taken effort by man of the match Greg Pichilingi.

West Bank hope to take another step forward in its development with a second team game this Saturday at Simms Cross.

The club would be pleased to hear from new players wanting to join the squad.

Contact Richard Hughes on 07984414496 for details of training sessions.

Higginshaw Eagles u15 6 West Bank Bears U15 32.

WEST Bank travelled over to Oldham with only 13 fit players, but everyone of them played their part in the best team performance of the season so far.

The Bears showed their intentions from the kick off, pressing hard in attack and defending with great passion.

The first points came after only three minutes, a trademark run at the line from Danny Stapleton took West Bank close to the try line, Ryan McCann then cleverly scooted over the line to open the scoring, Matty Fozard slotted over the extras, 6-0 to West Bank.

Whenever Higginshaw had the ball, West Bank defended in numbers putting in some big tackles.

The influential Ryan McCann set up the second try sending a perfect long pass out wide to West Bank’s flying winger – Dylan Steadman who coolly took the ball at pace and stepped inside the would-be tacklers to score a lovely try, 10-0 to West Bank.

A few minutes later, a powerful run from Danny Stapleton took the Bears close to Higginshaw’s line were the half-backs linked-up perfectly, Ryan McCann setting up Jack White to score a brilliantly timed try, 14-0 to The Bears.

Just before half-time the magic boot of Matty Fozard put a kick through which was precisely weighted at the Higginshaw line, Danny Stapleton chased for the ball with two Higginshaw players, who between them, unfairly stopped West Bank’s marauding centre, denying him a well-deserved try, a penalty was awarded and Matty Fozard added two more points to give the Bears a 16-0 half-time lead.

Four minutes into the second half, West Bank once again took the game to Higginshaw with great drives forward, then from the halfway line, Ryan McCann put another perfect kick over the defence, Matty Fozard read the kick perfectly, firstly kicking the ball past the full-back before diving on the ball to score a well executed try.

Unfortunately, back in the West Bank half, Danny Stapleton was receiving treatment for what turned out to be a broken wrist, a cruel blow for the Bears who will be without their flying centre for the rest of the season.

Higginshaw were now giving away numerous penalties, due to their indiscipline, two of the penalties were put between the sticks by Matty Fozard to stretch 12-man West Bank’s lead to 24-0.

Midway through the second half, a precise cross-field chip over the defence from Jack White was once again, read brilliantly by Matty Fozard, who gathered the ball on the line to score his second try.

Two more penalties from Matty Fozard and a late converted consolation try from Higginshaw, made the final score 32-6 to West Bank, who earned an away trip to Orrell in the next round of the cup.

The whole of the West Bank team played brilliantly today, without the luxury of substitutes their fitness was a major factor in this win.

Adam Murphy in particular had an outstanding game, taking the ball up on the first tackle, causing Higginshaw to utilise four tacklers to try and stop his progress, Adam’s tackling also was outstanding, this was easily Adam’s best game for West Bank.

Adam was eagerly backed-up by James Houghton, Elliott Condron and Lloyd Hankin, who’s ball running was powerful and pushed the Higginshaw defence back all game.

Backs Ryan Bamford, Joe Clark, Dylan Steadman, Danny Stapleton and Jonny Wood were a menace to the Higginshaw defence in attack with their probing runs, when they were defending they were clinical, with numerous tackles causing the opposition to knock-on.

Half-Backs Jack White and Ryan McCann are arguably the most creative partnership in the Premier Division, today they showed why they are so well-respected, carving holes in the defence with virtually every move.

West Bank’s Hooker and Loose-Forward – Kyle Smith and Matty Fozard were once again superb, their form this season has been tremendous, both of them take the ball to the defence with great conviction and tackle with loads of power.

West Bank continued to impress this season with this committed performance, unfortunately with having a small squad, the injuries are starting to pile-up causing problems in the next few games.

The lads were superb and deserve a massive pat on the back, this was the ultimate team performance, especially when playing for virtually half the game with only 12 men.

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