Wibsey Warriors 48 West Bowling 10

Wibsey centres Nick Fontaine and Luke Helliwell were in tip-top form as the Warriors crushed old rivals West Bowling in the Pennine League Premier Division clash at Northfield Road.

Bowling made a dream start when scrum half Ben Heald put a grubber kick behind the home defence and took advantage of a helpful deflection from prop Ross Simpson to pounce in the corner too far out for the conversion.

The Warriors responded to a vocal battering from the sidelines from coach Jason Hirst when Helliwell cut inside the sliding defence to race under the posts and added the extras himself.

Wests’ brittle rearguard out wide was exposed when second-row forward Mike Kite collected a gift after the ball was allowed to bounce and stand-off Harold Hall also made the chalk following a runaround with packman Sean Godfrey.

Bowling wingman Chris Curtain was only inches short of reaching another Heald kick in the corner before the Warriors replied in kind, leaving Fontaine to swoop after a defensive mix up on the right flank.

The arrival of Chris Vogel from the bench saw the giant prop forward waltz over between the posts, leaving Helliwell to add this fifth conversion for a 30-4 half-time lead.

Bowling made another bright start on the resumption when smart handling saw second row Elliot Townsend glide to the whitewash and Heald made sure with the boot.

It was, however, a brief interlude as the Warriors resumed normal service when wingman Paul Jennings raced 80 metres to the uprights.

Wibsey’s other flanker, Jimmy Rodgers, left Gareth Cullington grasping thin air with another long-range effort and Fontaine bagged his brace when Wests wingman James Crabb lost the ball in a dubious tackle over the line for an easy brace.

Helliwell, who never missed a chance at goal, finished the match with a try and eight conversions and the final whistle could not come soon enough for a Wests outfit that looked mightily relieved when their last match of the season was brought to a timely conclusion.