Darlington Mowden Park Vs Beverley RUFC

Darlington Mowden Park  36   Beverley 21 – After a disastrous first twenty minutes which left them trailing 21-5 Beverley steadily clawed their way back to 21-all only to succumb to two late tries and go down to a convincing defeat.  It was a strange game.  There was plenty of good rugby on view but for Beverley also plenty of frustration.  Time and again when they should have kept the ball in hand they gave possession away with aimless kicking, invariably straight into opposition hands.  After mounting their spirited fightback to draw level they disappointingly fell away again and ended the game struggling.

Beverley RUFC Chairman Malcolm Cunningham

Kicking off in the autumn sunshine Beverley got away to a perfect start.  In the first minute a Mowden clearance kick was charged down and from the quickly taken penalty which immediately followed Beverley moved the ball across field for Phil Dale to touch down in the corner.  Mowden immediately countered and within five minutes scrum half Ryan Painter went over for a simple try after Beverley had been penalised in the scrum.  Richie Young,s conversion put them ahead.

For a quarter of an hour Beverley simply went to pieces.  Poor tackling allowed Ralph Appleby and then Painter in for two embarrassing tries which Young converted.  Only twenty minutes gone and Beverley were already trailing by sixteen points.  To their credit they steadily pulled themselves together and fought back.  Mike Kilgannon with a nice dummy went over for a try which Ian Archibald converted.  Two superbly struck penalties by Archibald from the ten metre line then followed, so that by half time Beverley had reduced the deficit to only three points at 21-18.

Early in the second half Archibald kicked another long range penalty and Beverley were level.  With the slight advantage of the swirling wind and playing with increasing confidence it looked as though they might well go on to win the game.  Sadly it was wishful thinking.  They struggled again in the lineout – only twice all afternoon was the ball taken cleanly and moved quickly out to the backs – and as a unit their backline never really got going.  They were up against a good set of Mowden backs.  Young and fast, Mowden took the ball at speed and always looked dangerous.  Beverley, in contrast, played with a flat line and with a slow delivery looked ponderous.  They lost Goran Jelencic early on but they could seldom find any penetration and Dale’s try in the first minute was the only time the ball reached either wing.

Young kicked a penalty to restore the home lead but within minutes Jade Gardiner very nearly snatched the lead back for Beverley with a powerful burst up the middle.  In the second half Archibald’s excellent place kicking deserted him and two simple penalty opportunities to level the scores went begging.  After the second it all went downhill for Beverley.  They never really got near to scoring again.  In David Worrall they had the outstanding player on the field and when he was yellow carded for persistent offside Beverley’s hopes realistically went with him.  The last quarter of an hour became merely a desperate struggle to keep Mowden out.

Beverley may have had several failings in this game but their defending in the second half was not one of them.  They tackled heroically, none more so than Phil Duboulay and Martin Shaw.  Only in the last five minutes did Mowden again manage to breach the defence despite their relentless pressure.  Chris Oakley settled it with a converted try following a forward drive to the line, and with the last action of the game winger Matt Goforth touched down in the corner.  Trailing by only three points with five minutes left a final 36-21 defeat looked harsh on Beverley but no-one would dispute that Mowden were the better side on the day.