Beverley RUFC U16s came off the back of an excellent (but losing) performance at York last week and started off in similar vein against a big Castleford side.
Almost with the first play of the game Beverley gained a penalty 10m from the Castleford line which was quickly taken to Ben Watson who crashed over for the first try.
Beverley were playing into the wind and were relying on their dominant forwards to control the play and drive the ball into the Castleford half. Castleford were under pressure and from a 5 metre scrum Beverley tackled the Cas off-half regained the ball and a quick ruck on the line saw captain Pete Wilson crash over.
Castleford were trying to work the ball to their strong running backs but Beverley were controlling the play and tackling superbly all over the pitch to keep them at bay. With the Beverley forwards in dominant mood constant quick ruck ball allowed off-half Ben Wadsworth to control the play and both forwards and backs were making good ground. With Castleford under pressure again a ruck in the Castleford 22 saw Pete Wilson chip over the defence and Tim Ellis caught the ball and won the race for the corner.
Kicking against the wind Ben Wadsworth could not convert the tries. With Beverley in control Castleford still tried to get as much ball to their backs and from some scrappy broken play they managed to break through twice in succession to leave the half time score 15-14 to Beverley.
Beverley needed to start well in the second half and they did as both full back Joe Bullemant and Ben Wadsworth used the wind to kick to the corner and put Castleford under pressure again as the chase form the wingers was always excellent. From a ruck in the Cas 22 great hands from Wadsworth allowed debutant Jake Lawson a run to the line, with the wind Wadsworth converted.
This gave Beverley the momentum and they put a stranglehold on Cas as they could not get out of their own half. From a Castleford 22 drop out, Elliott Hulme picked up the loose ball, stepped one player and sprinted through the gap to score under the posts, once again converted by Wadsworth.
Almost immeditaely a clearance kick from the Castleford full back fell into Elliott Hulmes hands, he broke a tackle and sprinted almost from the half way line under the posts to really take Cas out of the game, Wadsworth converted. Beverley were dominant now and excellent defence kept Cas from making any real ground. Once again Bev won good ruck ball which went wide to Sam Nursey who raced to the corner.
From the kick off Beverley worked the ball into the 22 where Ollie Milner was just tackled on the line, from the scrum Beverley regained the ball, Cameron Owen picked up at the back of the scrum and at the ruck Pete Wilson picked and crashed over. It left enough time for Cas to score a consolation try from a 5m scrum to leave the final score 46 – 21 to Beverley.
All the players and coaches must be congratulated on the quality and style of play the side has shown in the last two weeks despite the enforced lay-off during the bad weather.
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