West Bowling 10, Bradford Dudley Hill 31

Scrum half Tony Williams led West Bowling a merry dance, scoring 23 points to ensure a Dudley Hill victory in front of a 600-plus crowd at the Bankfoot Oval yesterday.

The National Conference League Division One derby started tentatively, with both sides searching for the all-important early score.

Hill’s cause was not helped when centre Marvin Golden was treated for a cut eye and full back Lewis Evans was helped off, limping with an ankle injury.

The discipline from both teams was clearly evident, with the first penalty not coming until the 15th minute, and the deadlock was finally broken by the patched-up Golden.

He outmuscled the home defence in a one-on-one to race clear and plant the ball at the side of the posts, leaving Williams to add the first of his four conversions.

A missed penalty touch-finder put Bowling further on the back foot, allowing Hill to charge upfield and wingman Craig Tyman collected a neat inside pass to power his way to the chalk.

West’s second-row forward Sha Basha then squandered what looked to be a certain try when he stopped in his tracks with the line at his mercy.

The hosts fell further behind when Williams combined with fleet-footed stand-off Danny Thomas for his first touchdown to make the score 18-0 at the break.

Bowling clearly needed to score first to keep in the game but when they put a careless kick over the dead- ball line, Thomas took a quick tap to race clear.

He found his partner Williams lurking on his shoulder, who went on to outpace what was left of the defence for his brace.

West’s full back James Dewhirst earned himself a spell in the sin bin when he kicked the ball away to prevent a repeat shortly afterwards, while Williams kept the scoreboard ticking with two long-range penalties.

West’s wasteful finishing continued when substitute Andy Seagers failed to capitalise on a clear-cut opening created by loose forward Josh Essex, and it was left to talismanic flanker Lee Innes to show the way with a determined sprint into the corner. Essex decided to go the short route from the ruck for a deserved touchdown and Innes converted to bring a semblance of respectability.

But Williams slotted over another penalty and a drop goal to emphasise Hill's superiority.