Plenty of cracking rugby but overall a rather strange game. With just over half the match gone Stockport led 24-3 and were running away with it. At the end they were hanging on and relieved to hear the final whistle. Stockport with three straight wins are without doubt the strongest side Beverley RUFC have met so far this season. They played with a power and composure that Beverley RUFC could never quite match but in the end they had certainly been given plenty to think about.
Beverley RUFC started at a great pace and for ten minutes ran Stockport ragged. Yet all they had to show for their almost total domination was a penalty from Phil Duboulay when Stockport were caught offside on the 22. Stockport gradually began to settle without gaining much headway but in the space of five minutes they suddenly found themselves 14-3 up thanks to some indifferent Beverley RUFC tackling. First a run down the left by winger Mike Kaciubskyj set up an attack on the Beverley RUFC line where lock Paul Ralph shrugged off two half-hearted tackles to touch down. Then centre Jamie Anthony powered his way through several missed tackles to add a second try, full back Richard Hopkinson adding the two simple conversions from in front of the posts.
Both sides were playing plenty of enterprising rugby and Duboulay was keeping the Beverley RUFC backline moving impressively. The Beverley RUFC front five were giving as good as they got against bigger opponents but for all their fluid passing Beverley RUFC did not have quite the same cutting edge outside as Stockport possessed. The line-outs were again a struggle with no recognised hooker to throw in and just before halftime a wayward throw at a line-out in the Beverley RUFC corner went straight to Josh Cammiss who merely had to touch the ball down for a third Stockport try. Given the amount of possession they had had Beverley RUFC could have felt a bit aggrieved to turn round 19-3 down. But you have to take your chances when they come and Stockport had made the most of theirs while Beverley RUFC had not.
Danny Morris and Mark Hatfield the Beverley RUFC props had put in a good stint in the first half, as had Gavin Gibson and Tony Riby-French, all of them making good ground in the forward exchanges. Glen Walden on the Beverley RUFC wing was having another impressive game showing plenty of endeavour and frequently getting away from his opposing winger. He looked easily the most dangerous of the home backs and it was a surprise that he was the one to make way for Junior Tupai who came on at the start of the second half.
Tupai brought an added incisiveness in midfield as Beverley RUFC continued to attack at every opportunity. They gradually regained the upper hand. Stockport’s game meanwhile fell away, due partly perhaps to the match already appearing to be well won. Stockport did score with a try by flanker John Wilson following a forward drive to the line and Hopkinson banged over a penalty, but the second half belonged to Beverley RUFC.
If Stockport thought it was all over they had another think coming. Beverley RUFC clawed their way back into it with a terrific fightback. It was fitting that skipper David Worrall, immense as always throughout, should be the one to get them back into it with two fine tries. The first followed a run by Goran Jelencic down the right and the second after good work by Jelencic and Sam Atiola in the centre. It was all Beverley RUFC at the death. Gibson scored under the posts with Duboulay adding the conversion to bring Beverley RUFC to within a converted try of equalising. Another five minutes and who knows; but time had run out and Beverley RUFC had to settle for a losing bonus point. And perhaps to reflect on some uncharacteristic sloppy defending.
Final Score Beverley RUFC 20 Stockport 27
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