On a fine, dry day Hullensians kicked off and immediately mounted an attack down the left flank. This was thwarted by some sound defending by Beverley but they were unable to make much headway into the Hullensians half initially and play was mostly concentrated on the Beverley 22.
On 7 minutes Hullensians were awarded a penalty which was successfully converted to give them a 3-0 lead. Despite the two sides looking to be pretty evenly matched, Beverley were unable to gain much possession and Hullensians were proving to be very good at retaining the ball. Eventually after 20 minutes, another successful penalty saw Hullensians take a 6-0 lead.
At last Beverley broke free from the shackles and made inroads into the host’s territory. A penalty to Beverley, kicked by Phil Duboulay reduced the arrears to 6-3 and this seemed to bring them to life. With a beautiful move started in midfield by Will Harrison, he and Luke Hazell split the Hullensian’s defence, exchanging passes before putting in James Graham for the first try of the game which Phil Duboulay converted to make it 6-10.
Back came Hullensians and 5 minutes later Josh Langford scored their first try which Guy Martinson converted to regain the lead at 13-10 and increased their lead further with pushover try, again converted by Martinson to make the score 20-10.
Beverley were suffering a little being unable to win any lineout ball to speak of but, almost on half time, scrum half Will Harrison who was having a splendid game, floated a wide pass out to Luke Hazell who raced over for another fine try (20-15).
The second half started with Beverley in the ascendency and after 5 minutes they mounted an attack down the left which led to a pushover try touched down by Raymond Coates to make the scores level at 20-20.
Beverley continued to exert pressure and were looking more and more the likely winners and after 20 minutes Phil Duboulay scored a fine try which he converted himself to make it 20-27 and secure the bonus point for the Beavers.
It has to be said that Hullensians’ skipper Jason Conroy had left the field with an ankle injury and they were looking like a different side without him.
After 39 minutes, a remarkable forward drive covering 35 metres or so by a, by now, rampant Beverley pack led to Alex McPeake scoring under the posts for Phil Duboulay to covert and settle the scoring at 20 points to 34.
This proved to be an exciting, entertaining game played in an excellent spirit by, despite their differing league positions, two evenly matched sides and extremely well handled by referee Laurence Pearson from the Yorkshire Society.
As a result of this win Beverley move into second place in Yorkshire 1. Next Saturday they host Moortown at Beaver Park Kick off 2-15 p.m.
