Beverley RUFC rounded off their club’s fiftieth anniversary celebrations with a fine win in the spring sunshine at Beaver Park. It was hard and physical but always an enjoyable game to watch. From the early stages a victory for Beverley RUFC always looked probable but for half an hour they made heavy weather of it and at the interval all they had to show for their domination was a single try five minutes before the break.
Beverley RUFC had all the early possession but could make little of it. For ten minutes they were seldom out of their own half and were lucky to survive a West penalty kick by Paul Moss which drifted just wide in the wind. As Beverley RUFC began to get an increasing hold on the game they looked correspondingly more dangerous.
David Worrall at number eight was proving a real handful making ground every time he had the ball. It seemed that sooner or later he would break clear and when he did a score would surely follow. The Beverley RUFC backline on the day was also at its best with some crisp movement and handling. Phil Duboulay at fly half was Beverley RUFC’s man of the match always keeping the line moving smoothly as well as making some darting breaks himself.
Junior Tupai with a lovely break down the middle would have put Richard Bussey over for a fine try had a despairing West hand not somehow diverted the final pass. But the pressure eventually told when Ally Forth won a heel against the head five metres out and Worrall picked up to cross for a deserved try.
West’s defending was first class throughout but Beverley RUFC with all their possession ought to have turned round in a better position than being only five points up. In the second half West raised their game but in truth they never really looked as though they could to go on to win the match.
It all got very physical with no quarter asked or given by either side. Some of the tackling, particularly by Beverley RUFC’s Francis Pickering and Goran Jelencic, was not for the fainthearted, and Worrall, Tony Riby-French and Craig Hancock in the back row were putting themselves about to good effect.
An enforced reshuffle at halftime brought increased zip to the Beverley RUFC backs. Bussey moving from wing to full back made an immediate impact producing one breathtaking seventy metre run through the middle. Phil Dale on at scrum half combined well with Duboulay sending out a quick pass and frequently sniping around the fringes. Another Beverley RUFC score and you felt the floodgates might open.
Ten minutes into the half it came when Beverley RUFC took a short dummy throw to Hancock in the lineout and the flanker powered his way over from thirty metres. Two minutes later he added a second following a lovely break by Tupai when he again had to muscle his way over from some distance. Duboulay’s conversion from wide out took Beverley RUFC to 17-0 and it was effectively all over bar the shouting.
Another crisp handling movement led to a nice pick-up and pass inside by Mike Kilgannon to send Jelencic racing under the posts for another converted try to earn Beverley RUFC a bonus point. Although a win was beyond them West fought back heroically throwing the ball about and responding in kind. Although they were seldom able to threaten the Beverley RUFC line they did eventually break away down the right touchline for centre Jamie Connelly to cross for a consolation try.
In a frantic finish Beverley RUFC were reduced to fourteen men with the loss through injury of Hancock and then further reduced by a yellow card for Jelencic. Nonetheless they still had the last word when Tupai emerged with the ball from a breakdown and Ally Forth sent Jade Gardiner over for a final try to seal a wholly satisfactory day for Beverley RUFC.
Beverley RUFC captain David Worrall breaches the West Hartlepool defence to score the first try of the game
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