After two close defeats it was only a matter of time before Beverley Braves under 13s unleashed a performance like this, Myton Warriors being the unlucky recipients at Beverley Leisure Centre.
The writing was on the wall from the first minute when centre Archie Murdoch jinked through the middle to touch down under the sticks. Not to be outdone Harry Vorwerg, also playing centre, scorched down the right to touch down under the posts after Josh Pearson had taken the Warriors short kick off well. With George Bennett-Teare gaining huge yards down the centre of the field, the position was set for Vorwerg to score his second in the right-hand corner.
Five minutes had gone, and Myton had yet to the touch the ball. Rugby league can be a cruel game when the momentum is against you, especially with goal kicker Marcus Walker in good form as well – his touchline conversion added to the two previous easier attempts meant it was 18nil.
Myton stemmed the flow for a short period only to see the fleet-footed Murdoch score again and when Henry Hughes, dominant in the Braves pack all match, broke down the left, it was Murdoch on his shoulder who took the ball on to score in the left-hand corner, Walker converting both, and it was 30-0.
Nathan Dickson had been looking good up to this point with good distribution from the play the ball in his first game at hooker, but he had to go off for a while after taking a heavy knock. At the back, Ewan Morton had very little to do at full back – but what he had to do he did well – whilst wings Tom Cohen and Will Kirkup had solid games – the dominance of their centres meaning they saw little of the ball, however, Kirkup was on hand in the closing stages of the first half to confidently deal with a Myton attack after a kick.
Halves Lewis Egan and Walker had a field day taking on the Myton defence creating space for the outside backs to do their stuff, and it was one such pass that created the space for Vorwerg to complete his hat-trick. It might have been that the two centres were having some sort of competition as just minutes later Murdoch scored again on the back of more good yards from Hughes.
In between all of this, the Warriors began to get more possession and started to test the Braves defence a bit more and that suited the second-row partnership of Ollie Gresswell and Ollie Loney just fine as they picked up the tackling workload.
40nil at half-time and the Braves made some changes but there was little respite for the Warriors, Walker drawing the defence to put William Wallis in for the try. Egan defying his size with some great defence and with the ball in hand repeatedly causing problems, the Braves defence was also bolstered by the introduction of Ethan Rowbotham and Will Swainston, both of whom only played part of the game but ended up topping the tackle count.
The ball went loose inside the Myton half, and Walker was on had to pick up and somehow break through the crowd of defenders to touch down and next it was Rowbotham scoring in the right-hand corner after more good hands.
On the back of a great drive from Matt Brown Beverley had the field position again to see Rowbotham scoot over from acting half-back, then Vorwerg raced through the middle and although his pass went to ground, Murdoch was on hand to pick up and score under the posts, Kirkup adding the extras this time.
The Braves saved their best try until last; Hughes made a strong burst down the right, offloaded to the supporting Wallis who in turn dropped the ball off into Swainston’s arms who raced clear to score the try. Walker’s final conversion finished the scoring for the Braves, but credit to Myton who did not give up and went close to scoring in the final minutes.
Hughes, Walker and Murdoch shared the man of the match award.
Final Score: Beverley Braves 50 Mayton Warriors 0
