Loughborough Students 31 - Westoe 12
May
ALTHOUGH Westoe’s campaign may have ended on a losing note, they could walk from the field with heads held high.
It had been a long and gruelling journey, beginning on a fine late summer day when they met Scottish Premiership side Heriot’s in a hard-fought pre-season friendly and ending all of 40 weeks later in late spring sunshine on Saturday.
Gareth Nesbit’s men could reflect on 23 victories and fourth top spot in just their second season in National 2 North which was a most praiseworthy performance.
And although confronted by selection problems as the campaign stretched unusually into the cricket season, due to postponements during the Arctic winter, his side gave the cream of the nation’s rugby youth a tough run for their money.
Their prize was the runners-up spot - until recently coveted by Westoe - and a trip to Jersey this weekend to compete for the play-off spot in National One. All at Wood Terrace will wish the young men well.
They will certainly hope that the islanders’ pack do not give them as hard a time of it as did that of the Shieldsmen who controlled matters for substantial periods.
But the Students defended well and, somehow inevitably, it was their fleetness and sure-handedness in open play that brought them victory, four times piercing Westoe’s own otherwise sturdy blockade.
It was, however, the visitors who took the lead in only the third minute when fly half Charlie Rayner intercepted and sped 25 metres to touch down, his conversion attempt striking a post.
Four minutes later his sure-footed counterpart Matt Keville, who was to convert all his team’s tries, kicked a penalty and sooner after flanker Fred Silcock burst through two tackles to put the hosts ahead.
Evenly contested play ensued but two more sporadic strikes boosted Loughborough’s promotion ambitions.
Firstly, inside centre Andy Hall broke free from inside his own half to touch down under the posts and then winger Ed Rolston was brought down just short after a defence-splitting dash but deftly off-loaded to outside centre Joe Munro to finish the job.
Now Westoe’s forwards flexed their muscles. A powerful drive took them almost to the try line and a series of bruising surges ended just before half-time with an irresistible five-metre scrum from which number 8 Ben Morris burst over, Rayner’s kick making it seven points
Westoe continued to press after the resumption and centre David Haswell thought he had grounded the ball beside the right corner flag only for the touch judge to rule that the ball had bounced.
They continued to have the better of things and so it was against the run of play when in the 74th minute the Students clinched matters and earned a bonus point with a slick cross-field attack that saw full back Russell Weir go over.
So the curtain fell on a memorable season that had seen Dunes Adventure Island beat every other team in the division at least once with the sole exception of Loughborough.
For the record, player-manager Mark Bedworth, absent on Saturday, was the sixth highest scorer in the league with 271 points - 12 tries, 71 conversions, 20 penalties and 3 drop goals - to go with his splendid kicking-from-hand.
James Clark, mostly at outside centre, was the team’s top try scorer with 18, while 10 apiece were scored by winger Gareth Kerr, number 8 Ben Morris and teenage full back/winger Scott Jordan in just 12 appearances.
