The Blue and Golds will rue missing their chance to pull away from the relegation zone in this scrappy but entertaining clash in Wigan.
In a game which was not allowed to flow the visitors conceded too many penalties, committed too many handling errors and simply had to do too much defending.
To add to their difficulties, they had to play 20 minutes of the second half down to 12 men due to sin-binnings for Sam Roe and Lewis Poskitt.
Sam French commented;
“That’s a tough one to take. Our discipline both with and without the ball in key moments of the game wasn’t good enough in order to give us more shots at them when we had the ball. On a big positive though, we defended a large chunk of that game on the back of the errors and that’s something to build on going into the next game, and certainly something we can take confidence from moving forward.”
On the last tackle, after the host’s first set of the game Jonny Norman charged down a kick and regathered to give Beverley an early attacking set close to their opponent’s line, which was well defended.
After that, the home side enjoyed rather more of the play as Beverley failed to complete sets.
However, things did happen for Beverley in the 12th minute when a break from deep by Jack Howdle saw him slip a pass away to Sam Roe who charged up-field only for the cover defence to get across and stop him.
A couple of plays later, Lewis Poskitt dummied and stepped his way to a try. Josh Poskitt converted for a 6-0 lead.
As the penalty count continued to weigh in the host’s favour they hit back. Following line drop-outs and repeat sets, a kick across the field for St Judes saw Danny Cassidy pounce to score in the 25th minute. The extras were not added with scores now pulled back to 6-4.
The restart kick went out of play on the full adding more pressure for Beverley but they again defended well. As Beverley countered a dangerous tackle on James Boughen in the 32nd minute saw a sin-binning for a St Jude’s player. The visitors were unable to make their numerical advantage count and the score remained 6-4 at the break.
Five minutes into the second half there were chances for the visitors as Alex Calvert’s pass to Jonny Norman saw the ball slip from his grasp with the line beckoning.
The 48th minute saw Connor Parkinson give the home side the lead converted by Danny Fallon. With St Jude’s 10-6 in the lead, Beverley became incensed by a number of decisions going against them. Sam Roe was dispatched to the sin-bin. Just when it seemed that they were doing well to defend repeat sets a man short, Lewis Poskitt was also sin-binned just as Sam Roe returned to the field.
Very soon after though, Sam Roe hit back with a try for Beverley in the 61st minute. The conversion was not added and the scores were level at 10-10.
The restart kick was allowed to go dead by Beverley immediately putting them under pressure. Danny Cassidy shortly after crossed to restore St Jude’s lead. The extras were not added and the score stood at 14-10 going into the final 15 minutes.
The visitors were unable to exert enough pressure on the host’s line in the closing stages. Beverley’s player of the match Alex Calvert did go close as he headed for the corner but was dragged into touch by the weight of numbers. Lewis Poskitt had to be helped from the field near the end with an achilles tendon injury which hopefully will not prove to be serious.
