Beverley Braves under 11s matched West Hull point for point in the first half of this entertaining game of rugby league but could not repeat this effort in the second half going down by 16-32. In fairness, although Wests were the better side and deserved the win, the true margin between the sides was probably less than sixteen.
It was the Braves picked up from where they left off in their previous game on Tuesday night with some great passing along the line seeing Ryan Deane putting the perfect pass into the hands of William Wallis, who still had forty metres to go before scoring under the posts. With Wallis adding the extras, it was 6nil with just a couple of minutes on the clock.
Any suggestions that this was going to be easy were quickly dismissed when West Hull hit back to score on their next set of six, again under the sticks – a high-scoring game looked on the cards. However, defences started to get on top with the usual suspects putting in a huge amount of tackles, second rows Oliver Loney and Ethan Rowbotham in particular.
The Braves were taken forward with immense efforts in both attack and defence by George Bennett-Teare and man of the match Henry Hughes. Both lads put in a huge amount of effort with Hughes giving his best defensive display of the season.
The forward display was enough to allow half-backs Lewis Egan and Marcus Walker to take the line on and supply some good possession to their forwards, and outside backs whilst Tom Marr kept the team on the front foot with some fast ball from acting half-back.
At the back, William Kirkup brought the ball up well and wingers Tom Colley and Jack Turner had limited opportunities in attack but defended well when required, and the same could be said of Tom Cohen.
West Hull would go on to get the next score but wide enough out to make the conversion too difficult. Some good pressure in defence caused a knock on by Wests and from the resulting pressure, Bennett-Teare was held up over the line before Wallis crashed over again. 10 all at half time and it was anybody’s game.
West Hull got the best start however with two quick tries both resulting from one on one tackles being missed. At 10-20, the game had suddenly changed, and the Braves were looking to the half-time replacements to take the game forward with their fresh legs. George Lees made a couple of dangerous runs whilst as usual, Joseph Dennis and Will Sanford did not let anyone down in defence.
Dylan English was tackled short after skipping his way though the defence whilst Matthew Hutchinson took the ball up when it was asked of him, and Harry Newton had limited opportunities to shine being a little isolated on the wing with his centre out of position despite his appeals to fix this.
After Braves pressure Wallis scored again, this time from acting half- back and with Walker’s conversion, it was back to 16-20. That was to be the last of the Braves scoring. However, with Wests scoring two more converted tries. The nearest they came to getting on the score sheet again was a repeat set of six after Walker’s high kick was spilled and scooped up by a grateful Loney. Lots of effort from the Braves but not quite the right level of application in the second period.
Final Score: Beverley Braves 16 West Hull 32
[nggallery id=3052]
