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After  last week's dramatic win over Crumlin, West welcomed Crickhowell RFC to the Stad de skew for their return 3 East C league fixture and with confidence high were looking to get their first double of the season.

Crickhowell however hadn’t read the script and started very strongly putting the ball wide at every opportunity.  After a number of phases the ball was moved smartly by the threequarter line for the visitors to take the lead with a fine converted try.

With their tails up the away side continued to move the ball at every opportunity and would have scored a second try but for a dropped pass with the try line begging.

This let off seemed to stir West to life who attempted to impose their game plan with forwards and backs running straight and hard in attack, orchestrated by halfbacks Robbie Baldock) and Dion Perry.

With the plan working West then stepped up the tempo and Crickhowell were at sixes and sevens as Robbie released Luke Royal who was stopped just short of the Crickhowell line.

From the resulting maul the West forwards bludgeoned towards the line resulting in a fine score by  the try poaching tighthead Jonny Coleman, converted by Craig ‘Buff’ Buffin.

This score seemed to set the tone for the rest of the game as the West forwards dominated their opposition in the set piece and open play with the tight five of Scott Leonard, Ryan Clark, Jonny Coleman, Dafydd Thomas and Luke Shelton outstanding. 

With the back row trio of Patrick Daly, Daniel ‘Dukey’ Gibbings and Connor Witcombe tackling everything and making excellent yardage with the ball in hand, it was only a matter of time before the next try came.  After a nice line break by centre Alex Willcox and a burst by wing Simon Davies , the forwards took over with some more line punches before Dion popped the ball to No8 Connor Witcombe on the burst and over for the 2^nd try to give West a 12-7 half time lead.

The 2^nd half kicked off with West again causing big dents in attack and defence, but against the run of play a penalty allowed Crickhowell to reduce the arrears to 12-10.

 However West were soon back on the attack with replacement backrow forwards Owain Beard and  Bobby Cundick entering the fray, Crickhowell was given no rest bite.

After another series of attacks and hard drives the ball squirmed free from a ruck, everyone stopped waiting for the ref to blow up apart from loose head prop Scotty Leonard who not to be outdone by his fellow frontrower picked the loose ball and sprinted 20 yards to score Wests 3^rd try converted by Buff to stretch the lead to 19-10.

Fair play to Crickhowell who kept battling, and following a deft cross field kick by their outside half, scored a try of their own to make the score 19-15 with 15 minutes to go

However the home side were in no mood to lose this game and a lovely "banana" penalty kick to the corner by wing  Jon Wells set up another attacking platform 15 meters from the opposition line.

From the resulting lineout, Robbie Baldock released Luke Royal on the short crash ball, going passed 3 defenders before being tackled.  The forwards took over with the hard yards before Dion fed Dukey who for the 2^nd week running, side stepped 2 players before crashing over for the bonus point try, again converted by Buff. 

With time running out Crickhowell tried to run the ball from their 22 but again found some big tackles coming their way with replacements Jason Morgan and Tim Atkinson really showing some impact in this area.

Not a game for those that like free flowing running rugby, but those that appreciate good forward play would not fail to have been impressed with this blood and guts performance by the home side in achieving their first ever  double over Crickhowell.

C'mon West/Dewch ymlaen Gorllewin