What a match. You will not see much rugby more exciting than this. With five minutes remaining Beverley had this pulsating game won at 32-23 but Rossendale came back with a converted try and then won it with a try at the death. It was thrilling stuff from start to finish. In the end Beverley could count themselves unlucky to go down to a third narrow defeat. They certainly played well enough and created enough chances to win but ultimately they had to accept that the only thing that counts is the final scoreline.
The relatively lightweight Beverley pack was up against a bulky powerful set of forwards. Yet they never buckled, tackled superbly, and provided a platform to enable Beverley to go into halftime 18-6 up. Rossendale took an early lead with a penalty from full back Steve Nutt, but within ten minutes Beverley had turned it round to lead 12-3. Stuart Nel opened their scoring with a try in the corner after Tomasi Tanumi had burst up the middle. James Holland then scored a quite remarkable try when he emerged with the ball from a maul on the Beverley 22 and sprinted seventy metres down the touchline. Lee Birch added one conversion, a lovely kick from the touchline, and Beverley looked to be on their way.
Play swung thrillingly from end to end as both sides tried to assert themselves. Nutt kicked a second penalty but two penalties from Birch took Beverley twelve points clear at halftime. They had had the slight advantage of a wind but had shown distinctly more edge in their running, although Anthony Brigham on the Rossendale left wing was proving a real handful.
In the second half Rossendale threw everything into attack through their big forwards but they struggled to get the better of the home eight who tackled ferociously and at one stage drove the visitors thirty metres back. Nel was having a fine game in the second row while Holland at wing forward was in a class of his own, producing some tremendous breakouts and devastating runs. Several times when he broke clean through Beverley should have scored but each time they were somehow denied.
Twenty minutes into the half Rossendale got back into it. Not for the first time this season a needless Beverley kick gifted the opposition a try. With a two man overlap in a promising counter attack the ball was kicked away into Rossendale hands. Play surged directly up to the home line where a penalty scrum was conceded and scrum half James Albinson darted over for a converted try.
Worse was to follow. A Beverley RUFC attack into the visitors 22 looked almost certain to bring a score until an ill-advised attempted chip went straight into enemy hands. Rossendale went directly up to the other end and Bingham touched down to level the scores. Nutt’s conversion put Rossendale ahead, somewhat luckily perhaps because the conversion went wide by some distance but surprisingly was allowed.
When Nutt then extended the lead with his third penalty Beverley looked to be up against it. They responded magnificently.
For ten minutes Rossendale could hardly have known what had hit them. A lovely run by Birch set up Holland for his second try. Birch converted and at 25-23 Beverley were again in the lead. Then a break in midfield by Sam Atiola and a fine finish by Birch for another converted try took Beverley to 32-23. With barely five minutes left and a two score advantage they were surely home and dry.
A yellow card for Junior Tupai as time ran out hardly seemed to matter. But sadly it did. The resulting penalty led to Rossendale prop Leighton Taylor powering his way over for a converted try and with the last action of the match a cross kick found Bingham in acres of space on the left and he was in for the winning try. A terrific match but ultimately Beverley were once again left deflated.
Final Score: Beverley RUFC 32 Rossendale 35 | Reported by John Nursey
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