Some good tries but on the whole not an afternoon of high entertainment value. The Yorkshire Cup in recent years has lost much of its gravitas and clubs now often use it to give their fringe and young players a run out. The outcome of this preliminary tie was settled within three minutes of half-time and thereafter the main interest for Beverley RUFC was in seeing how the players being introduced would perform. Pretty well as it turned out. Chief coach Anthony Posa is clearly now in the happy position of having a squad with strength in depth in all departments.
They were by far the superior side here although they made heavy weather of it for much of the time. Joe Holbrough should have given Pocklington the lead in the first five minutes but his penalty from in front went narrowly wide. But Beverley RUFC were quickly into their stride and Richard Bussey with a spectacular run from his own half put them ahead with a fine try after fourteen minutes. Phil Duboulay converted and Beverley RUFC were on their way. Pocklington’s game is centred on a powerful set of forwards who keep the ball among themselves and lumber forwards relentlessly. It does not make for pretty viewing but it is effective. After half an hour Beverley RUFC should have been out of sight but instead suddenly found their lead reduced to two points when a loose pass in midfield allowed Pocklington winger Billy Hardy to kick through and win the race for the touchdown.
Beverley RUFC were putting together some exciting attacks without quite finding the finish to match. At last in a ten minute spell either side of halftime they did cut loose and effectively wrapped it all up. Some sustained pressure by the pack firstly brought a try for Alex Ogilvie and then James Holland burst away from a ruck to add another. Duboulay slotted both conversions and Beverley RUFC turned round 21-5 up.
Within a minute of the start of the second half they stretched further ahead with another converted try by Bussey following a powerful run through the middle by David Worrall. Bussey was involved again almost direct from the restart when he took an inside pass from Duboulay and raced up to the 22 before sending Leki Atiola in at the corner. 31-5 and it was just a question of how many more the lively Beverley RUFC backs might score.
Pocklington however kept plugging away. Although they posed little threat outside the scrum their pack took the game to Beverley RUFC with some aggressive forward thrusts. An interception on halfway by winger Phil Knight brought them a try which Holbrough converted but otherwise they found it hard to escape a solid Beverley RUFC defence. As the game spluttered along it became increasingly fractious and both sides received two yellow cards. With passage into the next round long since secured Beverley RUFC eased up in the later stages and Pocklington enjoyed their best spell of the match. But despite plenty of pressure they seldom looked likely to score and it was not until the last action of the game that they eventually got a consolation try which was touched down and converted by Holbrough.
In the end Beverley RUFC could be pleased with their afternoon’s work. Francis Pickering, skipper for the day, was always in the thick of it. Kris Renwick at hooker frequently won balls against the head. Duboulay’s tackling throughout was quite outstanding as was that of Tomasi Tunami who probably had his best game since joining Beverley RUFC. Bussey after an indifferent season last year is back at his best and his running here was first class. Craig Hancock too had a splendid game in the second row as did James Holland at seven who now happily looks fully fit again. Neither of the newcomers, Stuart Nel at lock and Daryl Riches at scrum half, did their cause any harm. All in all a satisfactory day and Beverley RUFC now go on to meet Wheatley Hills in the next round.
Pocklington 17 Beverley RUFC 31
Reported by John Nursey
Photos by Paul Linton
[nggallery id=2557]
