Not much vintage rugby here. Beverley won in the end but they made hard work of it. Rochdale are rooted at the foot of the table and almost certainly facing relegation but they never gave this one up and they might easily have won.
Only when David Worrall burst through for a try ten minutes from time could Beverley finally breathe easily. Beverley got the four league points and their league position now has a distinctly healthier look.
As usual Beverley started with a bang, running the game for ten minutes, and as usual ending up with nothing to show for it. Beverley looked a solid enough unit up front but once again all was not quite right in the backline.
Each side in turn was often frustrated by what appeared to be eccentric refereeing and Rochdale particularly so when Beverley were surprisingly awarded a penalty try following a scrum in the corner.
Phil Dale converted it to give them a seven point lead which on the run of play they probably just about deserved. But the lead looked fragile and on the stroke of halftime Rochdale drew level with a converted try.
Dale restored Beverley’s lead three minutes after the break with a penalty and then converted a lovely try by Sam Atiola who ran strongly from full back all afternoon.
It followed a purple passage of play in which Gibson broke clear from a maul, the ball was moved slickly from hand to hand with great supporting play, and Atiola finished it off from forty metres out.
Although at 17-7 Beverley were now ten points ahead the position still did not look too comfortable. Rochdale were moving the ball about quickly in the backs, but Beverley’s tackling in defence was outstanding.
Junior Tupai, Dale, and Jelencic all put in tremendous last ditch tackles to keep Rochdale out.
Strangely, although it was all played in a good spirit the game produced four yellow cards. Beverley in fact were briefly down to thirteen men when Rochdale scored a converted try to bring it to 14-17.
After that it could easily have gone either way but ten minutes from the end the outcome was settled by a trademark Worrall try, the skipper powering his way through the defence for forty metres to cross under the posts and leave Dale to round things off with a simple conversion.
Final Score: Rochdale 14 Beverley RUFC 24