The nine a side matches favour the Beverley Braves game as there is more space and this suits their fast passing style. This became apparent in the opening minutes of the first match when James McGahey made a perfectly timed pass to Joe Wardill who was accelerating at pace.
He broke through the defence and ran around the wing then under the sticks to score a great try. Players convert their own tries with a drop kick which Wardill did well adding the two points. It was not long before Beverley scored another try when powerful Will Johnson forced his way over following great play from the Braves.
Cottingham had a break down the wing which saw Beverley having to defend but a expert tackle from McGahey brought the player down and wrapped him up well. It was not long before McGahey linked up with Wardill again for another good try. Wardill then became the provider as he released Harry Inman who sped away down the wing at an unbeatable pace to seal the try.
Inman converted well. Darren Benstead made crunching tackles in the middle of the park to halt any attempt of an attack by the Tigers and when it was Beverley’s turn to attack it was not long before McGahey released another precision pass to Johnson who made a high speed charge to score and added the two points successfully. This completed the first half with an impressive 32 – nil score line.
After an outstanding first half it was important that the Braves maintained their momentum and continue to run hard at the Tigers. Their dominance continued as centre Harry Inman scooped up a loose ball for an easy run in try to increase their advantage.
Cottingham continued to battle and an early kick caught Beverley off guard but Conor Egan made an excellent chase and bravely dived on the ball to quash any attempt by the Cottingham Tigers. Dylan Clifford made the next charge and broke through with a thumping run at the defensive line and made a fast sprint on the other side to cross over the white wash for a great individual try followed by a successful conversion.
As the ball returned to Beverley again another Clifford drive saw the opposition struggling to hold the player and despite the referee shouting ‘play on’ the Tigers could not hold Clifford and he wriggled free and accelerated away for a superb try and conversion.
As the match was drawing to a close Beverley would have been forgiven for taking their foot off the pedal but that was not the case as they ended this match with Connor Davies delivering a brilliant, clinical pass to the supporting Wardill who sprinted to the sticks and converted his own try to leave the score 54 – nil.
