The Beverley Braves got off to a great start with Will Johnson taking the ball in strongly, the ball then found Keegan Bartlett who expertly kicked it across field.
This was cleanly taken by Darren Benstead who turned the player brilliantly and placed the ball firmly over the line giving Beverley an early lead.
This was the perfect start for the enthusiastic Braves and they continued to drive at the opposition hard. Impressive yards were made with each run and Tom Wood on the wing made excellent ground as he accelerated away.
Hull Dockers had their turn to put pressure on the defence but Beverley’s answer was simple as Benstead pushed the player ferociously into touch. Excellent passing play followed as Beverley was on the attack and the moves were a joy to watch and culminated in the ball reaching Harry Inman who spun brilliantly and placed it over the white wash.
The Braves game started to flow well now and from the kick off Bartlett took an excellent catch and passed the ball to Keenan Barker who sprinted so well to the half way line. This left Beverley in an excellent position after just the first tackle and directly from this Benstead offloaded to Jay Black who neatly side stepped and scored an excellent try.
Bartlett converted well. Dockers kick off again and aimed the ball to the same area and the move started all over again but this time Barker broke free and did a great run almost the full length of the pitch with only a last ditch tackle stopping him yards from the line. The ball was spread to the opposite side of the pitch and a perfectly timed off load from James McGahey found Joe Wardill running at an unstoppable speed to cross over the line.
Dockers attacked again and great defence was exhibited by Callum Officer time and time again. Beverley bounced back quickly and a stunning long pass from Bartlett found Wardill to steam over and score under the posts. Bartlett converted easily. There was no stopping Beverley now and McGahey made a lovely side step to fool the defence and then released Inman who ran over for another good try. Just before half time Dockers ran in a try to make the half time score 4 – 30.
The Braves were definitely up for this match and did not relent as the second half commenced. Harry Bulleyment and Officer started with storming runs and the result was a fantastic try from Nathan Collinson under the posts with Bartlett again adding the two points. Benstead added another try shortly after as he ran at an unstoppable pace breaking through the defensive line.
Bartlett made the difficult kick. An incident fired the game up as an influential player for the Braves was sin binned but Beverley retaliated in the best way when despite been a man down Harry Bell made one of his characteristic dodging runs to find a gap in the line and score another great try. Connor Egan made an explosive run on the wing and the resulting play saw Benstead running yet another good try followed by Wardill adding another to his tally.
The challenges were going in hard but Bell yet again did another cheeky side step to score. The physical intensity of the Braves was unstoppable today and the game finished on a high as great runs and passing from the team released Inman again to score a fantastic try and seal the game 4 – 68. Man of the match was Harry Bulleyment who was a powerhouse in the middle of the pitch.
