The Beverley Braves started the Hull and District Youth Rugby League season against old rivals Skirlaugh Bulls and straight from the off there was some excellent crunching tackles from both sides.
Despite being strengthened this season with some skilled new players it was Skirlaugh who broke free in the first few minutes from their big no. 20 who was also their play maker last season.
Skirlaugh piled the pressure on; forcing errors from the Braves with some strong tackles going in from Owen Harrison and Dylan Clifford and a very unlucky knock on resulted in the Bulls again touching down. The next 10 minutes saw an onslaught from Skirlaugh with the score reaching 22 – 0.
Some teams would throw in the towel at this point, but not the Braves.
They dug deep and fought back hard. Callum Officer took some powerful drives in and their pressure finally paid off when Jamie Branton kicked a pinpoint ball to force a kick out from Skirlaugh.
This was taken by Beverley well and a pass to James McGahey resulted in his first try. This was such a confidence booster as it was the first set of six the boys had completed.
Their second try was from two strong runs from Joe Wardill and James McGahey gaining brilliant yards up the field which Kurt Pelham capitalised on adding his own long run to touch down, eventually, near the sticks. Braves were back in this game 22 – 12 at half time.
The second half saw Skirlaugh do a massive kick to start which Zak Mayo took so well. Now, more confident flowing moves from Beverley saw Skirlaugh on the back foot and a perfectly executed long pass from Harvey Lazenby opened up Kurt Pelham to take his second try of the game.
The game was theirs for the taking but some hard shoulder barges from big Skirlaugh forwards injured Jamie Branton who had to leave the pitch for the rest of the game. They then lost the scrum against the head allowing Skirlaugh to score a length of the pitch try.
The final score ended 32 – 16, a 22 start cannot be given to teams like Skirlaugh and this will be a hard lesson learnt. Newcomers Jamie
Branton, Jay Black and Ben Towse all played really well and should be proud of how well they slotted into the team.
