Miserable cold, windy and wet conditions led in Selby inevitably to a game littered with mistakes and infringements and an afternoon to forget.
It has to be said that both sides endeavoured to put on a show but matters were not helped by the referee who must have been breathless by the end, judging by the amount of breath he expended blowing his whistle!
Never the less he was there, and the conditions were ,no doubt, just as unpleasant for him.
Beverley RUFC kicked off into the wind and were caught in possession in their own 22. After 3 minutes they conceded the first of many penalties. From the resulting line out Selby prop Duncan Hardy charged over for a try which Scott Hunt converted to give them a 7-0 lead.
This was short lived however, as Beverley hit back on 7 minutes with a try from Will Harrison out wide on the left wing to make it 7-5 and three minutes he did it again with a fine try, again too far out to convert into the strengthening wind (7-10).
Play took place mainly in the centre of the park for the next 20 minute or so as both sides tried to construct some running rugby.
In particular the big Selby forwards, prop Duncan Hardy and No 8 Liam Hogan both made strong bursts up the middle but some fine tackling by Beverley’s defence kept them at bay. On 30 minutes however, a penalty, successfully converted by full back Scott Hunt levelled the scores at 10-10.
As half time approached a slick move down the right wing allowed Will Turnbull to dive over for a try which Phil Duboulay converted to give the Beavers a half time lead of 17 points to 10.
Selby came out for the second half looking determined to take the game to Beverley and after 43 minutes a yellow card for Beverley’s Dale Hodgson resulted in a try for Selby to narrow the scores at 15-17.
Both sides were becoming very frustrated at the amount of stoppages occurring but eventually, after a further 17 minutes Beverley were awarded a penalty which Phil Duboulay converted which gave them a 15-20 lead.
Nothing much more of note happened in a second half during which the actual ball in play time was probably only about 15 minutes except the yellow carding of Beverley’s substitute lock Jack Houseman 30 seconds after his appearance!!
Phil Duboulay kicked a further penalty to give the Beavers a 23 points to 15 victory and deny Selby the losing bonus point. This was unfortunate for them because, in truth they deserved one.
Final Score : Selby RUFC 15 Points Beverley RUFC 23 | Reported by Malcolm Cunningham
