There was a carnival atmosphere at West Bowling as the first team beat promotion rivals Waterhead and the A team won the Pennine Division Three Championship.

The first team are on course for promotion from National Conference Division Two after a superb 35-12 victory over the talented Waterhead side from Oldham coached by Great Britain and Leeds Rhinos prop Barrie McDermott. They now move into second place.

Stand-off Peter Simpson gave a masterly display of attacking rugby, scoring 23 points.

He was the architect of the first try when he created an extra man on a run-around to cross the line with ease.

And he topped that effort in great style after 20 minutes when he kicked upfield and from the resulting scrum sold a dummy to score under the posts.

Waterhead closed the gap to 16-12 but it was inevitable that Simpson would have the final say of the half. He hoisted a high kick into the visitors' defence to enable winger Paul Gardner to touch down for a converted try and make the score 22-12.

The second half was dominated by a rampant Bowling side. Outstanding young winger Stuart Reardon was the star with two excellent tries.

The first was a result of a tight touchline dance to go over in the corner and the second came after a 60-metre dash down the middle to go under the posts to make the final score 35-12.

West Bowling A won the Pennine League Division Three title after a close 30-24 victory at Huddersfield YMCA.

They remain the league's only undefeated team this season. They scored tries from Steve Gregory (2), Mark Dunning and Chris Scott. Jason Woolham scored a try and kicked five goals.

Meanwhile, West Bowling under 18s have achieved a cup and league double. Stuart Morris's squad won the West Riding Youth Cup 48-12 against rivals Queensbury and have also been crowned champions of the Yorkshire and West Riding Combined League to round off a brilliant first season.

In the Pennine League Premier Division Queensbury's hopes of avenging their previous defeat against visitors Ovenden suffered a severe blow when Carl Smith and Andrew Senior were forced to withdraw through injury just before kick-off. They went on to lose the match 36-16.

Queensbury allowed Ovenden to play down the notorious slope first and when they turned around just 18-0 down a comeback looked possible.

They launched their fightback when centre Darren Brown charged through for a try with Steven Gallagher adding the conversion. And when loose forward Trevor Stead ran in under the posts for a try converted by Lee Baron a revival looked feasible.

But Ovenden hit back to consolidate their lead before a consolation try from Steven Eyle.

Outstanding for Queensbury were forwards Gary Prentice and Ian Thorpe.

Birkenshaw are two points clear in Division One after a 44-2 win at lowly Brighouse Rangers. Their nearest rivals both lost, Undercliffe 22-14 at Siddal A and Illingworth 18-10 at a revitalised Keighley Town.

Birkenshaw's determined quest for the title was clearly demonstrated with tries from Andy Redmond (2), Ryan Bostock (2), Dave Burton, Simon Armitage, Leon Crick and Stuart Crawshaw. Jarrod Toulson kicked four goals and scored a try.

In Division Four Queensbury A took a gamble by resting leading scorer Shaun Fallon but the move back-fired as they crashed 26-12 at Clayton A for their first defeat of the season.

Queensbury scored early tries through junior scrum-half Paul Drake and young winger Michael Nero, but Clayton raised their game to notch a try by scrum-half Lee Raistrick to turn around 12-6 down.

The Villagers gave a strong second half display and scored though Raistrick and a double from prop Keith Trudgill. Hooker Peter Milnes got two drop-goals.

But the biggest cheer of the afternoon was reserved for ex-Clayton coach Glenn Marriott who came off the Queensbury bench. He ran ten metres to the corner only to be held on his back over the line.

In Division Five West Bowling B were well beaten 58-8 at top-of-the-table Sowerby Bridge Robins A. Captain Martin Wright scored a converted try and Johnny Johnson kicked a goal.

Shipley lost 50-20 at Dodworth. After a bad first half they turned round 32-2 down but a spirited second half brought tries from Mick Carnelly, Dave Williams and Guy Dunn. Dunn and Darren Ellerton kicked two goals each.

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