Shaking off their Yorkshire Plate final disappointment of last week, Beverley RUFC U14s survived a bruising encounter with a feisty Wath side, finally building to a convincing 24-10 victory.
Playing without their regular fly-half, Beverley had to reshuffle their backs with Sam Acaster taking over at fly-half, Tom Barnard at outside centre, Adam Skeates at full-back, and Jasper Law at scrum-half.
An early unconverted try from Ben Wilkinson, the product of a hard drive from the forwards following an attacking lineout, soon gave way to a more entrenched game. Throughout, the Beverley forwards – most notably Josh Dillon, Harrison Petrie, Jasper Ghio and Ben Walker – made some great carries, and helped build position.
Too often though, a lack of support at the breakdowns allowed Wath to turn the ball over, good handling through the visitors’ backs then producing some dangerous break-outs down their right wing.
Beverley stuck to their plan to spin the ball wide through the backs, producing some strong and determined runs from inside centre Nathan Cullen. With Beverley pressing hard in the Wath 22, an unfortunate clash on the left wing saw forced Cullen off the pitch with a head wound that required medical attention.
After the restart, and with Beverley’s momentum broken, Wath were able to clear their lines and force Beverley to retreat to their own 22 where a Wath lineout on the stroke of half-time saw them cross in the corner to level the score at 5 points apiece.
Beverley started the second half with more intent, and the backs soon linked up well to put Acaster through for his first try of the day, converted by Barnard. A regrettable loss of discipline following a high tackle on Ghio halted the game for a few minutes, and resulted in Ghio being forced out of the game with a facial injury.
Not long after the restart, a powerful and direct run from Petrie cut through Wath’s defence for Beverley’s third try of the morning, increasing Beverley’s lead to 17-5 and looking to help steady the game. However, a knock-on by Beverley at the restart gave the upper hand to Wath once again and, within five minutes, they had crossed the Beverley tryline to bring them back to within one score of the hosts.
The last five minutes of the game saw the intensity and determination from Beverley lifted once again. Playing simple but effective rugby they pushed Wath back in their half. Beverley’s dominance eventually allowing a quick interchange that released Acaster who could cross for his second try of the day, converted by Barnard with the final kick of the match to give a final score of 24-10.
Skeates had a good game at full-back, with some determined try-saving tackles, whilst both Barnard and Petrie gave solid performances both in defence and attack. However it was Acaster, who coped admirably with his enforced move to fly-half and was still able to put himself in position to score twice, who was named as parents’ player of the week.
Coaches’ player was awarded to Ghio.
