In recent years Holderness away has not been a happy hunting ground for this Beverley team often making the long journey home after a sound beating and with wind burn from the strong winds seemingly all the way from Holland.
This year things were slightly different, not only did the lads get sunburn they also came away with two more league points after a dominant second half performance.
Both sides cancelled each other out for the first 14 minutes, despite the heat, there was some great defence from both sides, notably from Ollie Loney, Ethan Rowbotham and Will Swainston in the middle and on the wing from William Kirkup, who unfortunately had to leave the field midway through the half with an injury.
The deadlock was finally broken when stand-off Marcus Walker supplied the first of many perfectly timed passes to put Archie Murdoch into space who needed little invitation to show his step and pace and race under the sticks to score. Jack Turner added the extras, and it was nil6.
Beverley’s lead didn’t last long. Beverley spilled the ball in their own half and from the resulting possession Holderness scored wide on the left and made it 6all with the touchline conversion. Ben Hodder took a couple of high balls well as the Vikings pressed for a further score and in attack, Ryan Deane made several telling runs to help move the ball into the Holderness half. After Murdoch was tackled high after another one of his speedy runs, the ball was moved out to Lewis Egan from the tap penalty who produced the perfect pass for Kai Johnson to bulldoze his way over under the sticks.
Walker’s conversion meant the margin was back to six points at 6-12.
That lead lasted for about seven minutes before Holderness again capitilised on a Beverley error in their own half to bring the scores level. The Vikings were on a roll and as the clock ticked further into injury time only a superb tackle from Will Wallis, turning the opposition player on to his back over the line, prevented an almost certain try.
That piece of magic from Wallis inspired the team for their second half performance, cutting out the errors and working really well as a team, many players covering positions unfamiliar to them as a couple of their teammates picked up knocks.
Oliver Gresswell came on to help with the defensive effort, and Henry Hughes’ introduction created a constant thorn in the Holderness side. The scores once again remained the same for some time, although both teams went close, Tom Cohen caught a Holderness kick well to prevent a further score and Holderness forced a goal line drop out a little later.
Finally, a score came when Beverley worked the ball cross field with fast hands, Hodder drawing the tackler to give Jack Turner – now filling in on the wing from hooker – the time to score in the left-hand corner. Walker’s touchline conversion gave a little extra breathing space at 12-18.
Rowbotham, now operating at hooker kept the ball moving well as Beverley looked to build on their momentum, and it was that Walker – Wallis combination that worked so well last week back again, the former’s perfectly timed pass put the latter in space, and his 50-yard sprint ended with a try under the posts and a 12-24 scoreline after Turner’s kick.
Five minutes later Walker showed great game management slotting over a 35-yard drop goal to put the Braves three scores ahead. Three minutes later after Hughes ran the ball up-field once again the position was set for Johnson to power his way over from acting half-back and with Turner’s conversion, the final score was 12- 31.
Man of the match was Walker after another great game with ball in hand and with the boot, but he was pushed hard by Egan and Johnson.
Final Score : Holderness Vikings 12 Beverley Braves 31
