THERE were no signs of ring rust for Woolston Rovers as their first game for a month saw them blow Gateshead Storm away.

Rovers made the long trip to the north east worth it with a 52-10 victory, thanks in no small part to a hat-trick of tries from Adam Files.

Ben Dixon scored a try and kicked seven goals, with further four-pointers coming from Aaron Barber, Josh Bray, Harry Files, Callum Moore and Josh Sudlow.

“We are absolutely delighted to put in such a good performance,” head coach Mal Holt said.

“Gateshead are always a tricky side, especially at home, and we have struggled here for the past couple of years but we came here to do a professional job and that is what the lads delivered.

“We never really looked troubled, which was pleasing as it was our first game for four weeks.

“We defended well and our attacking play was varied and caused them lots of problems in all areas of the pitch.

“The long journey was certainly worth it and with other results going in our favour, we are in a great position to secure automatic promotion.”

Woolston: Aaron Barber; Josh Bray, Callum Moore, Danny Griffiths, Christian Taylor; Theo Holt, Ben Dixon; Harry Files, Adam Files, John Welch, Alex Smith, Dan Fearnley, Kieran Moore. Subs: Ryan Brown, Josh Sudlow, Louis Nixon, Ben Moore

Meanwhile, Crosfields failed to stop National Conference League leaders West Bowling from grabbing the victory that sealed their promotion.

Soap quickly found themselves 20-0 down and while they responded with tries from Aaron Holliday, Tom Brown and Jordan Williams, they fell to a 44-18 defeat.

“It was our intention to try and spoil their party but we failed to come out of the blocks for their first set and they scored within the first minute,” head coach Ian Boden said.

“This set the theme for the first half and the break couldn't come quick enough for us going in 20-0 down.

“We rallied and scored some very good points, especially Jordan Williams’ one-handed catch contesting a high ball with the full back.

“There were plenty of positives from the second 40 minutes. We are still a very young side and improvements are evident every week.”

Latchford Albion won by a single point for the second consecutive weekend as they beat Ulverston 25-24.

Chris Griffiths’ drop goal proved decisive as the hosts staged a late fightback, but Martyn Ellis’ side held on to close to within just two points of the play-off places.

Albion’s young side included six under 18s and it was one of them, Charlie McCurrie, who opened their account.

Sam Dobson and Daniel Brown extended Albion’s lead, with another junior in Roma Zheng scoring their other try.