Beverley Braves under 12s, struggling for players due to injury, illness and holidays lived up to their name once again but just fell short against the league leaders Hull Dockers.
Beverley led 6-12 at half- time, finally going down to Dockers 22-12, a score line that was a little harsh on the effort the boys on blue and yellow had put in.
Despite heavy rain in the night, the conditions were very warm at the Willows, and it was Dockers that drew first blood, regaining possession after a kick on the last was fumbled by a Beverley defender.
From this second consecutive set of six Dockers found a gap in the Braves defence for the second row to cruise through and score under the sticks, with the conversion it was 6-0.
Beverley’s defence has been pretty good this season and this game was no exception, particularly in the first half where the usual hard work was put in by Ethan Rowbotham and Ollie Loney, the two of them by far the top tacklers in the team this season.
Alongside them, Henry Hughes took up a huge amount of work, a great stint in defence alongside some strong offensive runs. It was a shame. Therefore, that he had to retire early half way through the first half with an ankle injury, returning to the field later in the second half.
So once again the Braves built their performance on a sound defensive game and an attacking style that seems to get better every week. The ball sees a lot more hands these days in the backline with the quicker ball from hooker Jack Turner and intelligent play from half-backs Marcus Walker and Lewis Egan.
Alongside them, Ryan Deane had probably his best game of the season with several breaks and decent amount of work in defence. It would only be a matter of time.
Therefore, before Beverley found themselves in the Dockers half and from around 15 metres out the ball found itself in the hands of Archie Murdoch, who stepped left and right before racing through the gap to score under the posts. Turner added the extras, and it was all square at 6-6.
The Braves were now on top with Ben Hodder having a fine game in the unfamiliar position to him of full back and wings Tom Newton and Tom Cohen let nothing past them but also had a few opportunities with the ball in hand which they took well.
Beverley Braves then created a great score, William Wallis, so often a try scorer in this team turned creator as he ran on to the ball at speed before passing on to the supporting Murdoch, who was still 50 metres out. He outpaced the Dockers cover to score midway between the posts and touch on, he left hand side, Walker coolly converting to make it 6-12.
As the Braves continued to work hard, Ollie Gresswell enhancing his reputation with a good tackling stint whilst Matty Brown, on for the injured Hughes, had his best game yet taking the ball up strongly.
With the half-time lead, the Braves really needed to score first, but it was not to be, after gaining possession with a one on one steal Dockers got themselves back in the game with a converted try to tie things at 12all.
Possession was something that Beverley had little of in the second half – particularly in the opposition half, but they did all they could to get it back. Walker’s short drop out to touch being a great example of this. The pressure was bound to tell.
However, and despite Ewan Morton’s hard work at full back in the second half – with Hodder moving into the three quarters – Dockers scored on the left to make it 16-12.
Both teams had been so evenly matched that would have been a fair score line but Dockers won possession again with a one on one steal, although looking at the video afterwards there appeared to be two players in the tackle.
Final Score Hull Dockers 22 Beverley Braves 12
