Beverley Succumb To Their Morley Jinx

An exciting but ultimately disappointing return to National League Three for Beverley. Beverley have never won at Morley where for some unaccountable reason they invariably go to pieces so perhaps there was no real surprise in the result.

They started the game in fine style and ended it completely on top but in between much of their play got very scratchy. None the less this was an enjoyable opening match to the season with a thrilling finish in which Beverley would have snatched victory had a last minute conversion attempt not gone wide. In the end Morley probably just about deserved the win by virtue of their better control and ambition.

Beverley RUFC got off to a good start with a Phil Duboulay penalty in the first minute but fly half Mark Chester responded almost immediately with one for Morley. Beverley looked the more dangerous side in the early stages putting together some fluid passages of play.

Richard Bussey was bundled into touch only inches from the line after one fine attack down the left and he was then unlucky to have a try disallowed for a forward pass. Sadly, as is their wont at Morley, errors started to creep into Beverley’s game and they began to look increasingly ragged in their backplay.

Morley have a lively set of backs who were quick to capitalise on some wayward and ill directed Beverley kicking. A superb covering tackle by Lee Birch saved one certain try but a second Chester penalty put Morley ahead.

Beverley might have recaptured the lead a minute later when Morley prop Paul Gabriel was yellow carded for a dangerous tackle. Instead of going for goal they opted for a scrum and with a pre-set move they completely opened up the home defence but with the line at their mercy the ball was knocked on. Beverley’s cause was not helped by yellow cards for Goran Jelencic and Junior Tupai and their plight was made worse on the stroke of halftime when Morley prop Ben Bell dived over in the corner for a try which Chester converted from the touchline.

13-3 down at the interval things did not look too good for Beverley. Duboulay narrowed it to 13-6 with a penalty but a dreadful Beverley throw-in on their own line went straight over the top to Morley wing forward Will Smyth who merely had to touch down for a simple converted try. Despite another Duboulay penalty it looked all over for Beverley when centre James Endersby scored a third converted home try which stretched the lead to 27-9.

Compared to Morley’s Beverley’s back play at this stage looked strangely ponderous and lacking in direction. Handling errors and aimless kicking were evident everywhere. Then with the match going into its last quarter Beverley got themselves together again and it all changed. Duboulay slipped through for a converted try to reduce the deficit to eleven points and Birch all but scored what would have been a quite remarkable try when he raced clear from behind his own line only to put a foot in touch on halfway.

The last fifteen minutes were all Beverley. Birch went over to reduce it to 27-21 and in the dying minutes Joe Pickets touched down when the pack drove over from a lineout. At 27-26 a successful conversion would have won it for Beverley but Duboulay’s kick went narrowly wide and that was that. It was Morley’s day and they could not be begrudged the win.

Despite the defeat there was still plenty of encouragement here for Beverley.

Joe Sheperdson at scrum half, Paul Steadman in the second row and prop Alex Keeton all made solid debuts. The pack as whole worked well with Stuart Nel and Pickets particularly making their mark.

Taking the match overall Beverley will probably play a lot worse than this during the season and still win games.

And happily for them the annual Morley jinx is now out of the way for another year.

Final Score Morley 27  Beverley RUFC 26 | Reported by John Nursey