Darville delivers West Bowling masterclass (From Bradford Telegraph and Argus)

Liam Darville delivers West Bowling masterclass

5:30pm Sunday 21st October 2012 in Sport By Jack Strother

West Bowling 68, King Cross Park 12

West Bowling stand-off Liam Darville produced a virtuoso performance in his side’s Pennine League annihilation of King Cross Park at Emsleys Rec.

Bowling entered the fray second in the Championship Division but it was the mid-table visitors who took the plaudits during the early exchanges by camping in the home red zone and only pin-point defence kept them at bay.

Darville engineered the opening try when he sprinted clear to hand on to centre Adam Reardon, who sent wingman Carl McGuigan in at the corner. The second try followed shortly afterwards in almost identical fashion, with another turn of speed putting loose forward Richard Lumb on a 30-metre gallop to the chalk.

Darville then produced a peach of a pass out of the back door to present a simple touchdown to Reardon, with scum half Ben Heald slotting over his first conversion. At 14-0 Bowling looked in complete command but King Cross had other ideas and pegged back the deficit to 14-8 with two unconverted tries before the interval.

The scenario was set for what looked to be a close encounter but the visitors’ hopes were soon shattered beyond repair.

Prop Ryan Patchett tore down the middle on the restart to feed Lumb for his second try, followed almost immediately by another splendid effort from Gareth Cullington under the sticks.

The full back then claimed his second in the space of five minutes when he joined the line as extra man.

Darville put a precision kick over the defence to see centre Jack Dawson pounce and the impressive Lumb then claimed his hat-trick when Dawson flipped an inside pass into his path ten metres out.

The mayhem continued unabated as second-row forward Chris Anderson waded through the demoralised Park defence and substitute forward Dan Gregory helped himself after collecting a grubber that was bobbling on the whitewash.

Darville put his name on the scoresheet following a quick play the ball and wingman Chris Curtain roared in at the corner for Bowling’s final try in what proved to be a very profitable afternoon.

Heald landed his tenth conversion from the touchline to crown a flawless second-half kicking display.

Bowling then put the cue in the rack deciding job done, which allowed King Cross to squeeze a last hurrah in the corner.

But it was soon declared all over when the referee blew for time five minutes early.