A Courageous Effort Not Enough To Save Beverley

Another courageous Beverley effort but once again without reward. Had they been able to get their hands on the ball a bit more this might have been a different story. As it was they were once again heavily outmuscled in the forwards allowing Dinnington to enjoy almost unlimited possession. On the few occasions when Beverley did have the ball they looked dangerous. Indeed given an equal share of possession it is not beyond all possibility that they might well have won this game.

An early Dinnington try touched down by lock Gary Woodcock and converted by John West looked like being the start of another hiding for Beverley as Dinnington powered their way into a commanding early domination. But on half an hour Beverley were right back in it when an inside pass from Phil Duboulay sent James Graham racing through the middle from halfway. Junior Tupai up in support took the scoring pass and with Duboulay adding the conversion the sides were level.

With all the possession they were getting Dinnington might, and perhaps should, have had a scoring spree. That they didn’t was down to a tremendous defensive effort by Beverley who tackled like demons all afternoon. They did eventually re-take the lead when Beverley were penalised for diving into a ruck five metres out. The drive to the line from the resulting scrum was thwarted but Dinnington moved the ball wide and West went over for their second try which he converted himself.

Beverley would not have been too unhappy at turning round 7-14 down at halftime with the stiff breeze being in their favour in the second half. But another Dinnington score in the first minute of the half more or less killed off their chance of a comeback. Almost direct from the kick-off Dinnington broke away down their right touchline and scrum half Neil Francis was on hand to take the inside pass and go over for another converted try.

The home forwards were finding it tough going in the set pieces and when Dinnington won a line-out thirty metres out Beverley were unable to prevent the visiting pack driving all the way to the line for another try which was touched down by Woodcock. At 28-7 it was realistically all over bar the shouting but Beverley were not done. Duboulay made ground with a long kick upfield, the ball was moved left, and Graham with a powerful burst sent Luke Hazell over for a second Beverley try.

This brought the sniff of a possible comeback for Beverley but it was quickly extinguished when Dave Brant was yellow carded and the Dinnington pack drove over from the resulting scrum five metres out. Worse followed immediately from the restart when Dinnington fielded the ball and broke straight back through the middle for wing Rob Lievers to score a sixth try which West converted from the touchline.

40-12 and it looked like being another depressing outcome for Beverley. Happily they did have the last word when another fine break on halfway by Graham sent Hazel over for his second try which Duboulay converted. Even at 19-40 it looked a bit tough on Beverley who had fought stubbornly all afternoon and made good use of what little possession they had. Duboulay again had a fine game at fly half as did Graham in the centre and the tackling throughout was first class, wing Harry Parker in particular being prominent. It would have been nice to have seen Parker with the ball in his hands a bit more often.

After some twenty five years this will be the last Beverley match covered by this reporter. While this may well be good news for some it should be placed on record that it has been a huge pleasure and privilege to have reported on the Beverley matches during all these years, through the good times and the bad.

Just a pity it could not have been rounded off with a Beverley victory.

Final Score : Beverley RUFC 19  Dinnington 40 | Reported by John Nursey