This week Beverley RUFC entertain Percy Park in their final National Three League fixture before the Christmas break. Percy Park are one of the oldest clubs in English rugby and are naturally steeped in tradition.
The North Shields based side is fresh off a narrow derby defeat to neighbours Westoe last week and are surprisingly struggling for form as of late having slipped from the top half of the table to the bottom half in the last four weeks.
Beverley, in contrast, are starting to link some very good performances together and will be keen to continue their improvement going into the Xmas lay off. The two teams last met in round 3, where ‘Park’ dominated the first half to lead 17-3 only for Beverley to comeback to 17-17 in the second half, with Park snatching the victory 20-17 with a penalty in the dying minutes.
However when I spoke to Beverley Head Coach Anthony Posa today, he insisted that revenge would not be a issue when preparing for this match.
“Our whole focus as a squad is to keep improving and evolving the way we play. I know we will be a lot keener to show how much we have moved on since the visit to Percy Park in September than to avenge any result.”
After last weeks impressive first ever win at Penrith the mood is naturally upbeat in the Beavers camp. Despite losing the unfortunate Tony Riby to yet another injury; Joe Pickets, Lee Birch, Tom Carr, Rob Smith and Kris Renwick should all be in line for selection this week after missing the trip to Cumbria.
