West Bowling 16, Fryston Warriors 27

FRYSTON Warriors had to use all their guile and Pennine League experience to overcome a spirited West Bowling and claim the Premier Division championship at Emsley's Rec.

Glenn Barraclough's young braves made a dreadful start when a lack of cover allowed wingman Andy Mathews to saunter down the touchline and put a simple kick into the arms of centre Sean Gee for the opener.

However, second-placed Bowling regained their composure and a touchdown under the uprights from scrum half Ben Heald was ruled out for offside.

This was soon followed by a smart move by loose forward Richard Lumb, who sent fellow packman Nat Light on a barnstorming unsupported 40-metre run down the middle.

Fryston veteran Wayne McHugh showed his finishing prowess with a powerful burst to the chalk and added the extras himself.

And Bowling were fortunate when the visitors spotted no-one at home from a scrum in their own 'red zone' to hoist a huge kick downfield, which thankfully the chasing McHugh fumbled with the line at his mercy.

West's game-plan of stretching the Warriors defence with fast hands paid dividends when stand-off Max Trueman produced a magical touch after he found his obvious route to the whitewash blocked, so he danced back inside to outfox three defenders en route to the posts.

Heald added the extras but was off target shortly afterwards when second-row forward Jason Marshall also showed a piece of deft footwork to send centre Karl Spring racing in at the corner to level matters at 10-10.

The wily McHugh spotted the opportunity to expose Bowling's flaky right flank from a scrum to put Mathews over, adding the conversion to give Warriors a 16-10 edge at the break.

Bowling came out sprightly on the restart through their hard-working pack, who put in a huge shift against their more senior adversaries.

Second-row forward Ollie Bartle produced a deceptive turn of pace to completely deceive the visitors' rearguard and Heald ensured full reward to once again level the scores at 16-16.

But Fryston quickly regained the upper hand when a home defender raced out of the defensive line to give substitute Adam Dickinson a clear run to the flag.

McHugh slotted over the touchline extras and then positioned himself expertly to slot over a drop goal to ensure West's had to score twice to win.

But the calculations were made redundant when Mathews collected a dropped kick to sprint over for his brace to confirm it was Fryston who collected the title.