West leads the way as Roosters run riot to storm into cup semi

Barney West led a St Ives Roosters try blitz as they breezed into the semi-finals of the East Rugby League Cup last Saturday.

The locals ran in 13 tries during a 78-22 rout of lower-level Southend Spartans in a last-eight clash.

Roosters quickly took command as West touched down after Mickey Blackley had unlocked the Spartans’ defence. A second score followed as Michael Wright was left with the simple task of crossing the line.

Their advantage was cut by a Southend try after they made the most of a series of penalties close to the Roosters line, but the response was emphatic and impressive.

Player-coach Paul Ashbridge burst over from inside his own half to trigger a run of nine unanswered tries from Roosters.

Tommy Newman was next to get in on the act before Nick Borkett blasted over only hours after returning to the UK from a business trip to Hong Kong.

Mickey Drake continued the one-way traffic before Duncan Williams roared over following a length-of-the-field surge from the resulting kick-off. Debutant Doug Smith became the next Roosters man to touch down with Luke Slade, Drake and West then going over in the same corner.

Southend did manage to bag three more tries before a West double completed the scoring.

Ashbridge said: “We worked hard in training on getting the basics right and the lads did everything I asked of them. I wanted a reaction to our league defeat in our previous game and I certainly got it.”

Roosters return to East Premier League action on Saturday when hosting North Herts Crusaders at the St Ivo Outdoor Centre (3pm).