Another Defeat But A Courageous Beverley Performance

Beverley went down to the heavy defeat they might have expected here but there was no disgrace in this loss.  Sandal with only one defeat this season are flying high and together with Sale have long since turned the league championship into a two horse race.  After their trouncing by Sale the previous week Beverley would have expected the worst today.  Yet despite the final score they gave a good account of themselves.  This may have been partly down to Sandal being rather less slick than Sale had been but certainly it owed much to a tremendously courageous effort on their own part.

Beverley started with an already weakened side from the previous week and almost with the first action of the match lost flanker Chris Brant with an injured arm.  The fierce bitter wind was in Beverley’s favour in the first half but they were also playing against the slope, which at Sandal is no mean disadvantage.  For the first quarter it was all Sandal.  Yet despite having all the play it was eighteen minutes before they managed to score and then only when Beverley were a man down with Dale Hodgson in the sin bin for persistent offending.

Three times Sandal powered over the line but each time were held up.  However from two of the resulting five metre scrums they drove the seven men Beverley pack backwards and first flanker Ralph Cartwright and then number eight Sam Whittingham picked up and touched down.  Beverley could get little possession but their tackling in this first quarter had been outstanding and their defending heroic.

Sandal were enjoying virtually all the play and eventually the pressure told.  On half an hour the floodgates opened and in the space of ten minutes they went from 10-0 to 37-0 with tries from Whittingham, Simon Frewin, Gareth Newman, Kieran Moffat and Joe Allott.  At the seventh attempt Sandal landed their first conversion, slotted by full back James Ellar.  Beverley could hardly get their hands on the ball but an interception in his own half by Sam Atiola set up a lovely back move which might have brought a try but sadly it came to nothing.

It was 37-0 at the break but it could have been a lot worse.  Beverley now had the advantage of the slope although they also now faced the strong wind.  They again had a good first twenty minutes and as well as tackling like demons started to put together some decent attacking play.  Atiola with a quickly taken tap penalty broke through to the line and set up a maul which led to James McKay going over for a Beverley try.  The score was not likely to turn the match but it was something.  At the other end stout defending was again keeping out the hard running Sandal side and it was twenty minutes into the second half before they added to their score.

Newman and Frewin both went over for converted tries as it all started to get scrappy and fairly feisty.  Sandal lock James Stewart and Beverley’s Kris Renwick were both yellow carded, in Renwick’s case for dissent.  All afternoon there had been plenty of whistle and the next penalty award had never been very far away.  The game eventually petered out with Newman going over for his third try.

All in all Beverley made a good fist of it here.  Atiola and Richard Bussey both ran strongly in the backs, Duboulay led by example with some terrific tackling and full back Ryan Murray in his first game showed plenty of spirit.  Up front young Alfie Hart-Fisher in the second row made a hugely encouraging debut and the pack as a whole gave it everything, Dale Hodgson and Jack Bunn being particularly prominent.  This was yet another heavy defeat for Beverley to endure but they again showed terrific commitment and despite the final score had no reason to be unduly dispirited.  Not many clubs get much out of Sandal.

Final Score: Sandal 56 Beverley RUFC 5 | Reported by John Nursey