Not much joy here for Beverley. Over the years they have seldom had much success at Acklam Park and today was no exception. A catalogue of errors, missed tackles, and conceded penalties, left them trailing 22-5 at halftime. It was not a great first half. They were left with a big hill to climb and in the end it proved just unattainable despite a splendid second half effort which got them to within striking distance of taking the lead.
The first quarter of an hour seemed to be little more than a relentless stream of penalties awarded against Beverley in their own 22. For some time it looked ominously likely that we were in for a second successive dismal week of incessant whistle blowing.
Beverley RUFC travelled across to Keighley in confident mood, lying in a handy second position in the league table following last week’,s convincing victory over Moortown.
Starting well Beverley dominated proceedings for much of the first quarter and after 19 minutes took the lead through a Luke Hazell try which was converted by Phil Duboulay.
Conditions were perfect for this season’s opener between York and Beverley at Clifton Park and what a cracking match this turned out to be.
York opened the scoring after 5 minutes with a penalty from in front of the Beverley posts but a Phil Duboulay penalty levelled for Beverley after 13 minutes to make it 3-3.
Beverley rounded off the season in rampant mood as they demolished a very determined Acklam side by 67 points to 10.
From the kick-off Beverley put pressure on the Acklam line but were unable to break through. This was largely due to the number of infringements by the Acklam forwards which resulted in four penalties and a yellow card for them within the first 5 minutes.
Beverley RUFC travelled to Leeds on Saturday and were able to record their 11 th victory in their last 13 matches, this despite the disruption of arriving half an hour late due to the team coach breaking down on the journey.
This meant that the pre match warm up needed to be curtailed but nevertheless they started brightly and after 8 minutes Jack Garvin raced in for an excellent try on the right wing which Phil Duboulay converted to give them a 7 point lead.
What a great day for Beverley RUFC. Beautiful weather and the Clubhouse packed to the rafters as they celebrated Ladies Day in aid of the Charity, Hull and East Riding Breast Friends.
All that was needed to make the day perfect was some good and exciting rugby and that requirement was certainly met.
A damp murky West Yorkshire afternoon and not one that Beverley will particularly want to remember.
In the heavy underfoot conditions they could never quite come to terms with the big Heath pack and in the end could have no complaint at the final outcome. They did have their moments particularly in the first half and on a firmer surface it could all have been very different.
A bit of a curate’s egg here. There were flashes of scintillating rugby, mainly from Beverley, but for the most part this game never rose above the mundane.
Beverley deservedly won in the end but they made heavy weather of it. They were the better side but they were never quite at their best, probably through being without several of their key players.
