Trying to end North Ribb’s long unbeaten run in the Yorkshire Shield Semi Final was always going to be a tough ask but Beverley certainly gave it a good go with all the team turning in one of their best performances of the season.
The Beavers gave as good as they got for the first half hour of the game and the last 20 minutes, but a Ribblesdale try blitz around the half saw the visitors jump out to a lead that they would not relinquish.
Ribblesdale showed what they were about from the off with several pacy attacks through their fluent backline which stretched Beverley, but good tackles from Alex Calvert and James Williams denied try scoring opportunities in two instances.
It was Beverley who opened the scoring when Rob Smith slotted a penalty for a high tackle 3 0. For the remainder of the opening half an hour it was the Beavers who looked the more threatening with Hazell and Baggs both looking to set up others when they may have been better trusting their own pace as chances appeared to go begging. As is often the case against top teams you need these chances to be taken. Ribblesdale opened their account with a try through their winger after a well-managed line out 5 3. As the halftime whistle approached Beverley again pressed the Ribb line, however a turnover 10m out from their own line was quickly transferred to Ribb’s pacy winger who raced away pretty much the length of the field to extend the lead 10 3 to North Ribblesdale.
Beverley desperately needed the next score, but at this point North Ribblesdale got into their stride and with their forwards now clicking they were able to exert a continued period of pressure which led to two tries in the first ten minutes of the second half to extend the lead to 24 3. At this point it could have gone horribly wrong for the Beavers but with Aiden Calvert having a typically robust game out in the centres and the forward pack led by Lewis Szrama, on his 100th cap, and Isaac Keighley Beverley they clawed their way back to within touching distance. The home side were denied what look like a certain try with a deliberate knock on which resulted in Ribb’s winger being yellow carded.
The Beavers then mounted a barnstorming ten-minute period where firstly Jacob Bagg charged over, with Smith converting 24 10 and then managed to reduce the deficit to a single score with Szrama adding a second, the hard conversion was missed. 24-15. Beverley seemed to have one last chance and mounted a sustained attack on Ribb’s line but another key turnover by the visitors snuffed out the last vestiges of a comeback.
Indeed, the visitors turned the tables and got down to Beverley’s 22 and rubbed salt in the wound by adding a fifth try to make the final score 31-15 which didn’t reflect fully on how hard Beverley had pushed them with Jack Adamso,n Max Bayes and Callum Harvey all having good games.
