At last, Rugby returned to Beaver Park with Beverley entertaining Old Rishworthian RFC from Halifax and entertained them and a reasonable crowd to some highly promising rugby.
The Beavers have lost a number of last years squad but look to have a useful set of youngsters ready to replace them. Playing towards the clubhouse they took an early lead after 10 minutes through a Phil Duboulay penalty (3-0).
However, Rishworthians hit back with a smart try 3 minutes later which was converted to give them a 3-7 lead. Play settled down with both sides showing a willingness to throw the ball about and Beverley capitalised on a Rishworthian error with Lewis Szrama crossing for a try (8-7). This was followed 3 minutes later with a typical smart Luke Hazell try which Phil Duboulay converted to make it (15-7).
Gradually the Beavers started to dominate the exchanges and after 35 minutes they went further ahead with a Rhys Innes try again converted by the ever-reliable Phil Duboulay (22-7). As half time approached impressive-looking new centre Jake Boardman jinked his way through the visitor’s defence to touch down for Phil Duboulay to convert (29-7).
After a highly entertaining first half the second began in a similar fashion to the first with the Beavers playing some scintillating rugby and quickly establishing a formidable lead through tries from Luke Hazell and Rob Smith both converted by Phil Duboulay to make it 43 -7.
However, Rishworthians hit back with a converted try (43-14) and for the next ten minutes or so the match became very scrappy until Beverley finally managed to increase their lead to (50-14) with a Duboulay try which he converted himself.
A period of sustained pressure from Rishworthians in the final 15 minutes resulted in a converted try (50-21).
This was a thoroughly exciting and well-deserved victory for Beverley and the outlook for this season is very promising.
Final Score: Beverley RUFC 50 Old Rishworthian 21
