Unusual conditions greeted the Beverley Braves for this derby match with a pitch made unpredictable by having a thick layer of cut grass covering the whole field.
After a lacklustre start by the Beverley Braves, they found themselves 12 nil down after ten minutes, on a hot Sunday morning at the home of Crigglestone All Blacks in Wakefield. But the lads responded well to a strong but fair team talk by coach, Chris Harrison.
Beverley Braves took part in a game that was the biggest so far for club after they were drawn at home against a strong Blackbrook side from St Helens in the Barla Xamax National Cup.
Conditions were poor for this tense quarter final as the winds swirled round the pitch. Beverley Braves were up against a Yorkshire Division 2 side that had narrowly missed out on promotion this season.
Beverley’s first official game as an U16 was against Eastmoor Dragons from the Yorkshire League Division 4 in the first round of the Yorkshire Cup.
In appalling conditions with swirling wind and rain the Beverley Braves who are the undefeated side of the Hull and district league played host to top side West Hull currently in Division 1 of the Yorkshire league in a friendly fixture.
This was the Beverley Braves last league match of the season and they did not disappoint their spectators when they showed their powerful presence from the moment the whistle blew.
Another hot Sunday morning rugby started with a crunching tackle by Joe Wardill which knocked the ball out from the grasps of the Dockers player to be expertly picked up by James McGahey.
After the bitter taste of cup final defeat Beverley Braves wanted to cement their place at the top of the league with a win over their nearest rivals Hull Isberg.
Beverley made the perfect start to the match with an explosive run from prop Harry Bulleyment who brushed the Tigers defence to one side as he powered through with an unstoppable charge between the posts opening the scoring for the Braves.
The Beverley Braves got off to a great start with Will Johnson taking the ball in strongly, the ball then found Keegan Bartlett who expertly kicked it across field.
This was going to be a tough encounter as the undefeated Braves took on second place Myton. The battle that commenced did not disappoint as Keenan Barker opened the attack with a ferocious run breaking
It was not long before the first points were on the score board for the Braves. Despite swirling winds at the Cottingham ground, Beverley executed a clinical move when James McGahey passed to Owen Harrison
This was a friendly fixture on paper but on the pitch it was a different story. Both sides were without key players and the players remaining had to play in different positions to what they are accustomed to.
Beverley continued the season with some more quality rugby as soon as the whistle blew to start the game. Their physical intensity overwhelms the opposition and despite some excellent defensive tackling from Wyke
On a bitterly cold morning Beverley piled on the pressure early pinning Isberg on their own line with some great tackles from James McGahey and Darren Benstead.
It was almost a perfect start to the new season when new signing Harry Inman nearly scored within the first few minutes with a brilliant run and although there was no points on the board it certainly sent the right message to the opposition and set the tone of the game.
The Beverley Braves needed to maintain their current form from previous matches against a strong looking Wyke side and it was the visitors who had the early pressure.