In a tight tustle, two tries to the Butchers in the four minutes before halftime proved the telling factor with a gutsy Wests outfit, that was without six players due representative commitments, unable to reel the visitors in in the second half.

The Butchers have now been edged out by unbeaten Collegians and knocked off both of last season’s grand finalists in their past three outings as they build towards a return to finals action at season’s end.

“I’m over the moon to get the win backing up after Dapto last week,” Butchers coach Jarrod Costello said.

“It was a real grind, similar to last week, and both packs really took it to each other and it was real quality game.

“It was end to end there in the first half, there was only five penalties blown, and we completed at 85 per cent which is probably why we came in leading at halftime and we were good enough to finish it off.

“To take two points off both grand final sides from last year is a great start to the year for us, we’re three from four so I’m really pleased with everyone’s effort.

“We’re building our confidence and our trust and belief in each other and those are three things you need in any successful team.

“We’re not there yet, we’ve got a lot of improvement in us, but our effort and belief is there and we’re turning up for each other. We can work on the execution but that other stuff’s definitely there which is great.”

The Butchers got off to a flyer with Jack Eager crossing in the second minute after a Wests error on kickoff reception.

It was one of few errors from either side in the opening stanza with Edrick Holmes hitting back for the Devils from a Kane Brennan offload to level-up at 4-all.

That scoreline looked likely to remain at halftime before Sam Clune latched on to an intercept and ran 80 metres to score four minutes before the break.

Clune twisted the knife two sets later with a deft kick for Dane Fancis to score inside the final minute to take a 14-4 lead into the interval.

Outstanding debutant Mitch Phillips scored off a Jye Mullane short ball four minutes after resumption the cut the margin back to four.

It saw Wests make most of the running in the second half before Butchers young-gun Crosland scored midway through the half to push the margin back out to 10.

Phillips had his second from Mullane kick to get back within four but the hosts couldn’t find a leveler despite a glut of possession at the back end. Wests assistant coach Pete McLeod said the match came down to some crucial plays.

“We weren’t good enough in the big moments,” McLeod said.

“We gave a lot of young blokes an opportunity and and ^th guys who got an opportunity went really well and showed what they can do first grade, just collectively, as a group, we weren’t good enough when the game was on the line there.”