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After a very tough and physical close season training regime and 3 pre-season "friendly" wins, West entertained Trinant in their  first league game of the 2017/18 season and were quietly confident against a team that clearly had ambitions in going for promotion this season.

The 1^st half kicked off and Trinant came out all guns blazing and for the first 10 minutes were camped in West’s 22, but the home side absorbed the pressure, kept their composure and started to settle into the game.

After some pressure of their own and a delightful kick into Trinant’s 22, the resulting clearance kick was caught by flanker Dai Redwood who went round one defender and outpaced 3 others to score in the corner converted by Captain Robbie Baldock. The score settled West even more and they now started to show what we’ve seen in the previous games, fast flowing rugby with backs and forwards combining effortlessly.

This was shown when another attack saw the ball go through the hands and finally out to No8 Bobby Cundick whose rampaging run was only stopped by a very good try line tackle. Howvwer credit to Trinant who fought back, got into Wests 22 and scored a converted try of their own to make it 7-7.

The remainder of the half started to get a little niggly with silly penalties being given away by both sides resulting in a yellow card for a player on each team, Robbie converting one of the resulting penalty for West Mon.

The yellows seemed to settle the game down with both sides looking to play positive rugby and one resulting attack by West saw Alex Willcox thwarted by a high tackle from the Trinant centre which ended in another yellow card and a penalty kick by Robbie to make the score 13-7 at halftime.

The 2^nd half kicked off with both teams attempting to gain the upper hand, but it was West who drew first blood, when after a monstrous driving maul by the forwards directed by scrumhalf Dion Perry, the ball came out to the backs and with fullback Morgan Parry coming into the line at pace he crossed the line for a delightful try. West’s fitness was also starting to tell against a big Trinant pack who when they did have the ball  were starting to keep it tighter to the ruck area to conserve their energy, but this gave them little rest bite with West's forwards on the blind stopping them dead and when they came at the 10, 12 channel getting no change from Robbie and Luke Royal.

After some hard work and energy sapping attacks, Trinant did eventually cross the line to make the score 18-12.

But if Trinant thought the win was in sight this was soon snuffed out as the big hits and defence continued by the forwards with Scott Leonard and Dai Redwood at the heart, ably assisted by Jonny Coleman, Gareth Moorcraft, Connor Witcombe, Luke Shelton, Daune Gardner, Bobby Cundick and replacement Craig Weaver.

And not to be outdone, the backs also carried on putting in their fair share of tackles in a overall excellent defensive display.

When the final whistle blew, the joy was plain to see from all the squad and the club supporters in how far this squad of players has come since last season's harsh learning curve.

It is believed that this is the club's first ever win against Trinant and was a very pleasing start to the league campaign.

What a difference a year makes.

C'mon West/Dewch ymlaen West

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