Plenty of endeavour and spirit but it all got rather bogged down in the wet and heavy going. Both these high scoring sides are in fine form at the moment and on a dry day this would probably have been a cracker. Even so in spite of the conditions there was still plenty of good rugby to enjoy. After an early bout of ping pong kicking both sides settled down and showed a ready willingness to run the ball at every opportunity. Two tries midway through the second half eventually swung it for Stockport but it might easily have gone either way.
Beverley were up against a side going hard for promotion but they were never outplayed and totally dominated the first half. They were quicker to the breakdown, won numerous turnover balls, and drove relentlessly forward in the heavy going. Stockport simply had no answer to the driving of the Beverley pack. Nor did they ever quite get to grips with Beverley’s front row of Kris Renwick, Sam Kerry and Alex Ogilvie.
Beverley should perhaps have made more of the first ten minutes when they were in total command. They moved the ball quickly and but for the difficult handling conditions might well have got over. Defending on both sides was outstanding throughout although it was always difficult for the runners to gain much momentum on the heavy ground. Lee Birch had his moments and James Holland and Tonci Buzov in the back row repeatedly powered their way upfield. Stockport remained under pressure throughout the whole of the first half but when they did get near the Beverley line it took some determined defending to keep them out.
The nearest either side came to scoring in the first period was a penalty attempt by Phil Duboulay which went narrowly wide. Richard Bussey nearly got in at the corner and Buzov was tackled only five metres short after a powerful forty metre angled run from halfway. Halftime arrived with the game scoreless, a bit tough perhaps on Beverley who had nothing to show for all their first half domination.
After the interval Stockport looked a different side. They never quite came to terms with the Beverley pack but they did up their game considerably. Ten minutes into the half they were leading 3-0 from a penalty by their fly half Josh Longmire and Beverley were a man down with Joe Pickets yellow carded for a high tackle. The impetus was now with Stockport. They began to have more of the play and in a five minute spell the game was won and lost.
Twice Stockport got trenched in the Beverley corner and twice they came away with a score. Winger Myles Hall and then prop Andy Fuller both touched down after long spells of frantic mauling on the Beverley line. For a long time it had looked like a single score would settle this game. Suddenly at 13-0 it had become an uphill task for Beverley. But they continued to go for it with some ambitious back play although the crucial break would not come. Having already lost the impressive Aaron Carroll Beverley were further hindered by the loss of Duboulay with a head injury. Tomasi Tanumi took over the kicking and he got Beverley going with a thirty five metre penalty after Stockport were marched back ten metres for refusing to release the ball following a penalty award.
Several times Beverley came close to adding to their score but the Stockport defending remained solid. One more score would at least bring Beverley a losing bonus point and five minutes from time they duly got it when Tanumi kicked a second penalty. It was no less than Beverley deserved and at the end they would have been justified in feeling that they deserved more from a game they had largely dominated. Nonetheless despite the defeat it was an impressive Beverley performance against a very good side which is probably heading for promotion.
Final Score: Stockport 13 Beverley RUFC 6 | Reported by John Nursey
