Beverley RUFC’s unbeaten run ended in disappointing fashion with a lacklustre defeat loosing 19 – 10 at Birkenhead Park who now move above them in the table. This was just one of those days for Beverley RUFC whose game was error-strewn from start to finish. After their recent good form they were probably due for an off-day and this was certainly it.
They were under pressure from the start as Birkenhead immediately penned them in their own 22. Beverley RUFC were eventually relieved to get away with merely conceding only a penalty from winger David Hall. After that they got back into it but then fell further behind on twenty minutes when scrum half Mike Chapman touched down in the corner.
To compound their problems the Beverley RUFC scrum was then disrupted by a yellow card for Martin Shaw for pulling down at a maul. Beverley RUFC were getting a good share of possession but could make little of it mainly through poor handling and some ill-judged decision making. Jamie Gill was making a brave fist of it as a stopgap scrum half and there were some nice touches from Junior Tupai in the centre but generally they were finding it hard to conjure up any penetration against a solid home defence.
A second Birkenhead try came on half an hour from full back John Fenton leaving Beverley RUFC with a mounting deficit to make up. Again the score came from a careless error as a Birkenhead kick ahead was dropped and the ball rebounded to take play up to the Beverley RUFC line. A maul in the corner followed but Fenton was on hand to touch down and Beverley RUFC found themselves 13-0 behind at half time.
13-0 was not insurmountable and Beverley RUFC were certainly showing plenty of enterprise. Also the pitch, or at least half of it, was treacherously boggy and Beverley RUFC had the advantage of attacking the better end after the break. They started in style with a splendid try in the first minute. Goran Jelencic burst through the middle and when he was tackled just short of the line Jade Gardiner was in support to touch down. Phil Duboulay was out of sorts with his place kicking and the conversion went wide.
Thereafter it was all pretty even. Beverley RUFC had plenty of possession and should have made more of it. Francis Pickering and Gavin Gibson put in some powerful bursts and David Worrall was always in the thick of it. Behind the scrum the ball was being moved well by Duboulay and the backs had their chances. Twice Gardiner was clean through but each time hesitated instead of going for the line and the opportunity was lost. Too many basic errors and a good deal of misdirected kicking were not helping matters either.
Two penalties from Hall took Birkenhead to a fourteen point lead, although he was probably lucky with the second as the referee appeared to have completely missed a dropped pass and re-gather by the home centre which immediately preceded the infringement. Beverley RUFC responded strongly in the last quarter and were eventually rewarded with a try for Gibson after opting for a series of penalty kicks to the corner instead of going for goal.
In the last ten minutes Beverley RUFC gave it everything but Birkenhead increasingly slowed the game down with numerous stoppages for injuries. Beverley RUFC had never really looked like winning this game but they were certainly worth the bonus point which one more score would have given them. They looked like getting it with a barnstorming finish during which Gibson was held up as he dived over.
Sadly their hopes were frustratingly extinguished when the referee surprisingly blew for full time having made very little allowance for all the late second half stoppages which must have amounted to well over five minutes. It was that sort of day.
