West Bowling 10 Slaithwaite Saracens 34

 A fleet-footed Slaithwaite three-quarter line ran in six tries to leave West Bowling reeling in a one-sided Premier clash at the Bankfoot Oval.

The lively visitors took the lead with a darting run down the middle from full back Richie Flooks, which enabled scrum half Gavin Dyson to kick into space out wide and leave centre Stu Dunbar a simple touchdown.

Bowling hit back in style with a classic interchange between stand-off Sha Basha and wingman Mike Batty that saw centre Todd Carter sprint to the whitewash.

Wingman Lee Innes slotted over the conversion for a 6-4 advantage that lasted barely five minutes. Dunbar tore onto a short ball out wide to skittle the defence, soon followed by a long pass from stand-off Ken Bowes to wingman Courtney Allette, who glided in at the flag without a home defender in sight.

Luckily for Bowling, the Saracens goal-kicking once again failed and they were unfortunate to see Batty recalled for a forward pass with the line at his mercy.

They finished the half laying siege to the Saracens line but could not inflict a killer blow and the sides changed ends at 12-6.

A good restart was the top priority for the hosts but the reverse was the case when Slaithwaite centre Alex Chatterton collected a high drop-out from under the posts to spot a gap, leaving Dunbar to slot over their first conversion.

The best try of the game came when the speedy Allette collected an offload on his 20-metre line. He set off like a hare down the touchline and skipped his way out of three desperate tackling attempts to plant the ball under the posts.

Bowling, to their credit, worked back upfield to threaten the Huddersfield outfit’s red zone but all the pressure came unstuck when Dyson intercepted a Basha pass to race downfield. Batty gave chase and was in the process of bringing him down to earth when he managed to offload to the supporting wingman Jay Wood, who cantered to the chalk.

Bowling’s substitute forward Nathan Marshall was sent off for punching before second-row forward Gavin Buckley closed the home account with a powerful burst to the line. Saracens packman Damo Kenchingham had the final say with a converted effort to post a tally that reflected their dominance.