Beverley RUFC Celebrate New Year With Fine Home Win Over Rivals

Beverley RUFC Under 14s celebrated their first home fixture of the year with a well-deserved 31-12 victory against a strong Driffield team, their first victory against their close neighbours.

With players returning from injury the Beavers were at near full-strength although, with Alex Crockett taking a short break, Harry Hessleton stepped in to comfortably fill the vacancy at hooker.

Consistent pressure from Beverley in the opening five minutes – with strong punchy runs from Oliver Lazenby, Harrison Petrie and Jasper Ghio – kept most of the early play in the Driffield half, and soon opened up the Driffield defence, eventually allowing Nathen Cullen to make a characteristically strong run from inside centre. Quick recycling by Beverley, and excellent support running by Oliver Jenner, saw the first try of the morning going to Jenner.

Eight minutes from the restart, an intelligent chip-through by fly-half Eden Quantock on the left side of the pitch found Cullen and full-back Tom Barnard both chasing across the Driffield try line to touch the loose ball down. Quantock duly converted the try for a 12-0 lead.

With play again stuck within Driffield’s 22 Ben Walker took the initiative and came off the back of a driving maul to cross for Beverley’s third try, to give the Beavers a 17-0 lead at half time.

A reshuffle at half time saw four changes to the Beverley line-up, demonstrating the squad’s strength in depth, before the second half began with a more resolute Driffield stepping up to try to match Beverley’s physicality. However, although still facing a serious test in the breakdowns, the Beverley pack appeared to be in the driving seat and regularly taking scrums against the head. Sustained pressure saw Barnard come up into the line and, after side-stepping the Driffield defence, stretch over for his second try of the day, quickly converted by a Quantock drop-goal.

From the restart, a determined phase of play from Driffield saw them come away with a well-deserved try following a defensive error on Beverley’s right wing. Shortly after, Beverley brought on Jasper Law to replace Adam Skeates at scrum-half, and Tom Haylock to replace Jenner on the left wing.

Sustained Beverley pressure – and an equally resolute Driffield defence – then saw Beverley camped on Driffield’s tryline for several phases before a turn-over by Driffield and a breathless 90m chase up-field, gave Driffield a hard-earned second try, which they duly converted.

In the last quarter of the game Beverley, despite being forced to substitute an injured Ghio, turned the pressure up again and with just five minutes to go, the victory was sealed when a short pass from Law saw Barnard go over for the last score of the match (again, converted by a Quantock drop-goal).

With two more matches to go before the Yorkshire Plate final this was a convincing win for the Beavers, and demonstrated the ability and focus that they are now regularly bringing to their fixtures.

Parents’ Player of the Week went to Tom Barnard for his high work rate and his inventive and productive play, whilst Coaches’ Player went to Adam Skeates who, as well as having a near faultless game at scrum-half, also showcased his strong attacking and tackling skills.