WEST Bowling’s resolute pursuit of the Kingston Press National Conference Division Two Championship crown remains on course after they dismantled third in the table Wigan St Judes 34-10 at Emsleys Rec.
The sparkling success, that guaranteed an automatic promotion spot, was never in doubt after another devastating opening spell that saw full back Max Trueman join the line and was quick on the uptake when his pass inside bounced off a Judes defender, allowing him to collect the rebound and score.
The best try of the game soon followed when a planned move saw second row forward Richard Lumb rocket onto a deft offload from deep to bust the visitors defence wide open and charge to the chalk, leaving stand-off Harry Williams to tag on the extras.
St Judes opened their account when they caught Wests napping by deploying an extra man on the blindside at the scrum to put wingman Lewis Melling over unopposed in the corner.
However, the hosts recovered their composure when an attack on the last tackle permitted loose forward Olly Bartle to sneak out a pass in heavy traffic to hooker Danny Halmshaw, who dived in at the side of the posts. Williams was again on target to leave Wests in fine fettle 16-4 up at the break.
The Wigan visitors' fragile defence was exposed on the restart when Bartle ran straight and hard to the uprights from 15 metres out.
But Bowling descended into cavalier mode when a wild pass was intercepted by visiting packman Chris Rowe that required scrum half Ben Heald to race 70 metres to haul him down.
A surprising lack of cover was punished when Judes scrum half Declan Parkinson found himself unmarked for a simple converted effort before normal service was resumed when Trueman joined the attack to produce a weaving run to the whitewash.
The final tally was complete when Halmshaw threaded through a wicked grubber kick in front of the posts to allow prop forward Nat Light to pounce. Williams added his third conversion of the half to give the scoreboard a true reflection of the contest.
The Bowling lads' celebration after the game was one of quiet contentment of a job well done, followed by a few broad smiles when the news that fellow Bradfordians Dudley Hill had beaten title rivals Ince Rose Bridge to give them a two-point lead at the top of the table with two games left to play.
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