After various last minute drop outs, this was a very different looking Beverley RUFC team that took on Scunthorpe 4ths for the 3rd time this year. Without various key personnel, it was left to the remaining players to fill the voids.
The game started in usual Beverley RUFC fashion, half hearted and without commitment. Scunthorpe made easy work of the new look Beverley RUFC pack and were dominant at almost every scrum. It wasn’t long before some foolish decisions by certain players led to a Scunthorpe penalty.
Fortunately they missed the kick in front of the posts but yet they still continued to push the Beverley RUFC pack around the field. It did not take long for the away team to score after some awful defending let them under the sticks. The score remained 5-0 after the conversion was missed.
This shock seemed to spur the Beverley RUFC team into life and they started to up their game. The pack started to hold their own against the much larger and more experienced Scunthorpe team. Some excellent running from Matt Brown, Rob Vaux and Dave Brant started to assert some pressure on Scunthorpe. It wasn’t long before Beverley RUFC were to score after some excellent passing from the backs and great rucking from the Beverley RUFC pack, let Rob Vaux cross the line. The game then turned sour after a few cheap shots from both sides saw Dave Brant yellow carded for kicking out at a player on the floor. The home side managed to ride the storm of being a player down until half time. Score remained 7-5
At half time various substitutions were made. Injured Skipper Stu Charlton was replaced by prop Mark Jenney, and a couple of other changes in personnel meant that the team started to look like the side that comprehensively beat Scunthorpe just over a month ago. Beverley RUFCs replacement scrum half brought a bit more urgency to the play and the ball started to move down the line far quicker.
Both of the Beverley RUFC wingers were enjoying the second half with both Kristian Snelling and Andy James running the ball extremely well. It wasn’t long before one for these runs were to be rewarded, and after some excellent passing, James Graham put through Kristian to score under the posts.
Some slicker passing followed and once again Beverley RUFC were on the score sheet via a Danny Docherty try. The game was starting to look like it was going to turn into a repeat of the last time these two played, but Scunthorpe had other ideas. Some excellent work from their forwards in the loose helped them drive over the line. This time the conversion wasn’t missed and the score stood at 19-12.
This spurred the home side to up their game again for the final ten minutes, and it wasn’t long before they scored again. Some excellent running down the wing by Kristian Snelling and the score stood at 24-12. With the game pretty much in the bag, some lapse defending let the smallest man on the pitch to run past six players and score in the dying minutes. The try was converted and the game finished 24-19.
This was by no means a classic Beverley RUFC 2nd team performance and they need to up their work rate before next week’s home tie to Hull. Overall Skipper Stu Charlton was pleased with his team’s performance, especially considering the unwanted changes needed due to regular player absences.
