Forget the score. Forget that it was another heavy loss. This was a wholehearted Beverley performance and in the end the margin of defeat was rough justice for a fine effort. All the power and muscle in the forwards was with Morpeth to the extent that Beverley were steamrollered backwards at every scrum. Otherwise there was not really much between the teams and both sides contributed to a fast enjoyable game played in a good spirit.
Morpeth had all the early play but Beverley somehow kept them at bay for twenty minutes. Both sides tackled well throughout and Beverley certainly had to do a lot more of it than Morpeth. They lost Kris Renwick early on which somewhat disrupted the forward play, not least in the line-outs after their thrower had departed. Morpeth did eventually take the lead when number eight Tom Michie touched down after the home pack had driven over. Scrum half Alex Ball added the conversion.
It looked likely that Beverley’s heroic defending would restrict Morpeth to the single converted try at halftime but in the last minutes of the half Ball struck two penalties to make it 13-0. Immediately after the break Phil Duboulay kicked a penalty to get Beverley going and they increasingly got more into the game with some spirited attacking rugby. Unfortunately the might of the home pack made it difficult for Beverley to make much headway. A penalty try and conversion awarded after Beverley had collapsed a scrum in the corner realistically ended any hopes Beverley might have had of somehow turning the game round.
None the less they gave it everything. They made light of the fact that few of the side had previously played together and they put together some impressive passages of play. All too often fate did not smile on them with numerous rebounds and bounces not going their way. But they attacked at every opportunity and rarely went for touch with penalties. Unfortunately losing possession when in good positions was once again proving a major problem.
It was a failing that Morpeth were quick to make the most of. A quickly taken Beverley tap penalty went wrong and wing Tom Manley seized possession to sprint over from halfway. A well worked Beverley attack from halfway then ended two metres short of the home line where they lost the ball and Morpeth full back Adrian Jonas sprinted the length of the field for another converted try. Disaster struck again when Morpeth fly half Cam Walker took an easy interception in midfield and sprinted forty metres to the line. Morpeth’s sixth try came from hooker Carl Hill who went over from a five metre scrum.
Despite the mounting deficit Beverley went on playing with ambition and enterprise. Right to the end they played as though they were going flat out to snatch the win. But despite all Beverley’s enterprising passages of play the Morpeth defence proved sound. Finally in the dying minutes Beverley did get some reward when Sam Roe rounded off some slick passing to cross for a try which Duboulay converted.
Today goes down as another big defeat but Beverley can take a good deal of satisfaction from their afternoon’s work. If they can keep this steady improvement up their season must soon begin to take a turn for the better. They played today with a completely new second row and had a new back row of Jake Hart-Fisher, Rayno de Kock and Jack Bunn which proved as good a unit as we have seen all season. They all tackled relentlessly and Hart-Fisher with ball in hand is clearly a force to be reckoned with. Behind the scrum Roe and Ben Naylor look to have the making of a decent centre partnership. James Graham and Tom Shires out wide both ran with great spirit and could not be faulted for any lack of endeavour. Beverley badly need more muscle up front but overall on today’s showing there are plenty of encouraging signs.
Final Score: Morpeth 44 Beverley RUFC 10 | Reported by John Nursey
