Beverley RUFC were well beaten in this Yorkshire Cup quarter final game and Hull RUFC now go on to meet Cleckheaton in the semi-final.
Neither club sent out its strongest side and Beverley RUFC with their minds concentrated on their league relegation battle fielded a side almost entirely made up of second team juniors. On the whole the young players acquitted themselves well but they were really no match for a hard running and skilful Hull RUFC side.
The game never reached the heights of last year’s classic encounter between these two sides but it still produced plenty of good running rugby to enjoy even if most of it did come from one side. Before the kick-off a minute’s silence was observed in memory of Gordon Polley, a former Beverley RUFC President and club stalwart for many years, whose death occurred the previous week.
The result here never looked in doubt from as early as the third minute. Quick thinking with a tapped penalty led to Alex Knight crossing for a simple try which Guy Mattison converted and Hull RUFC were on their way. Beverley RUFC responded by briefly making inroads into Hull RUFC territory and Jamie Gill kicked a penalty but for the rest of the first half that was as far as they got. The Beverley RUFC pack made a good fist of it with Dave Brant and skipper John Stephenson always prominent.
Rob Vaux in particular made some impressive bursts from the back row until he unluckily had to leave the field with a leg injury. But it was in the backs that Hull RUFC overwhelmingly had the better of things. They were yards faster than Beverley RUFC and against some pretty fragile defending looked likely to score every time they moved the ball wide.
Two converted tries by full back Alex Piercy and a second by Knight took the score to 28-3 after only half an hour. Hull RUFC were then in full flow and a rout looked to be on the cards. Two further tries early in the second half by centres Paul Roberts and Joe Martin took it to 40-3. Beverley RUFC at that stage were in some disarray but the introduction of Phil Duboulay and Junior Tupai from the bench immediately brought solidity to the backline. Duboulay with a nice run opened up the Hull RUFC defence almost for the first time and Tupai was in support to cross for a try which Gill converted. 40-10 somehow looked a lot better than 40-3.
Beverley RUFC in fact began to enjoy much more of the game in the later stages. Toby Bagnall did get over for a seventh Hull RUFC try which Matt White converted but the last twenty minutes largely belonged to Beverley RUFC. A determined run by Andy Meagher and a smart break by Tupai sent Anthony Spence racing over and at the death Tupai dummied his way through the Hull RUFC defence to cross for a final try.
In the end the final score was a good deal more respectable than looked likely when Hull RUFC were romping away with it early in the second half. Had Duboulay and Tupai been on from the start it might have been much closer. Hull RUFC are presently East Yorkshire’s top side and there was certainly plenty of quality about them here even though they were not fielding an altogether full strength side. For Beverley RUFC it was by no means all gloom. The experience will have been good for some of the younger players and they stuck at it bravely against a polished opposition. Slightly disappointing though the result may have been for Beverley RUFC it is unlikely that any sleep will be lost over their exit from this year’s competition given the importance of their relegation battle.
Final Score: Beverley RUFC 22 Hull RUFC 47 | Reported by John Nursey
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