Having started the season with a win against Ipswich YM, Fakenham were, for a number of reasons, unable to put out their full regular first team for their match against West Norfolk.

The game started brightly for Fakenham and after five minutes Lloyd Marshall was awarded a penalty for a late tackle which he converted.

West came back quickly and pressed, resulting in another penalty to level the scores. West then went ahead after a lovely timed pass that saw No 8 Williamson dash 20 metres to score under the posts for a converted try.

Fakenham pulled themselves together and soon the scores were level again when Murray Tindall, after a dropped pass by West, hacked through. As he tried to gather the bouncing ball he was tackled, resulting in a penalty try being awarded.

West gradually began to get a grip on the game and scored two further converted tries before half-time to make the score 10-24. The first came after concerted pressure on the home line while the second was after a fine run by the fleet-footed West winger beat some heroic defence by Declan Sperring.

Fakenham started the second half well when a precise chip through by Bane-Young resulted in a penalty which was quickly taken by prop Richard Warren, who drove to within five metres of the West line. Some fast recycling saw Brett Stolworthy just held up but from the resulting scrum Toby Kent scored in the corner to give his side a glimmer of hope, only for West to quickly slot another penalty.

It was followed by two well-worked tries that again took the game away from Fakenham although they did come back and score two tries of their own.

The first was scored by Alexandros Dracos, who was the home team’s man of the match, and the second by captain Adam Lingwood, who was driven over from a line-out to gain a valuable bonus point.

West Norfolk can be pleased with their clinical performance and well deserved win. Fakenham need to adjust some of their defensive strategies, as London Three Eastern Counties is a league that is very unforgiving. However it was a fair performance considering there were seven second team players in the squad.

Saturday should see the team back to a more normal strength for their game at Crusaders (3pm).