West Bowling 26, Castleford Panthers 16

Two pieces of sheer skill from Australian imports Josh Garden and Josh Essex catapulted West Bowling into fourth spot in National Conference Division One in a highly entertaining clash at the Bankfoot Oval Bowling quickly made inroads into the visitors’ defence and were rewarded with a penalty from wingman Lee Innes when the Panthers were caught offside near to the uprights.

Man of the match full back James Dewhirst raised the tempo further with a sparkling 60-metre run down the middle and, just when it appeared that he would fall at the final hurdle to a tackle from his opposite number Matt Bacon, he offloaded to his supporting stand-off Gareth Cullington, who dived under the posts.

Innes duly added the extras for good measure but the hosts had to work their socks off to prevent the Castleford visitors from scoring after conceding four unnecessary penalties on the trot.

The Aussie duo struck for the first time on the half-hour when scrum half Garden completely bamboozled the Panthers with a dummy and a shimmy to find loose forward Essex lurking on his shoulder and his team-mate crossed in acres of space.

Innes slotted over the extra two and it appeared Wests were coasting to an easy victory.

The visitors had other ideas however and a touchline raid opened up the opportunity for substitute forward Tony Holmes to reach the chalk.

That was soon followed by another close-range effort from hooker Craig Smith which, together with a conversion from stand-off Jamie Benn, closed the gap to 14-10 at the break.

Innes edged Bowling further in front with a penalty and, when the ball flashed through six pairs of hands, second-row forward Sha Basha rounded off the move in the corner.

With props Callum Dinsdale and Andrew Senior dominating the forward exchanges, Wests clearly had the upper hand.

Dewhirst had a touchdown disallowed for a double movement but it was not long to wait for the best try of the game in the 70th minute when Garden and Essex produced another slick passing switch to put centre Martin Tordoff charging up the touchline side.

He timed his inside pass to perfection and wingman Damian Smith scythed over the whitewash leaving Innes to ensure maximum reward.

A quick tap and run gave the Panthers a consolation converted try but by that time the result was never in doubt with Bowling roaring along to their sixth win in the last seven outings.

  • Jack Strother's weekly round-up is in the T&A every Wednesday