Careless Errors Cost Beverley Dear

Not much joy here for Beverley. They handed Stockport two converted tries on a plate, struggled to make much impression, and generally looked a pale shadow of the side that had played so well to defeat Sandal the week before. Although it could hardly be said that they deserved to win this match they did make a decent fist of things in the second half and but for having given away so many points might easily have got away with it.

With several key players missing they looked a bit lightweight up front and this was partly the cause of their undoing. In a fairly torrid first half their forwards were regularly pushed back and consequently struggled to produce much decent ball. As a result the backs could make little impact. Not that this could justify the backs’ comedy of errors with some dreadful handling and poor decision making.

In the first half Beverley had the advantage of a stiff diagonal crosswind although they never really made much use of it. Indeed most of the tactical kicks seemed to be directed towards the wrong touchline. As a result they constantly surrendered possession to the opposition. This was foolhardy in the extreme because Stockport were a well organised side able to retain possession effectively. Once Stockport had the ball in their hands Beverley had a devil of a job getting it back.

The first ten minutes were pretty even with plenty of endeavour by both sides. Stockport then took the lead with a penalty from Josh Longmore when Beverley were caught offside in front of the posts. Lee Birch almost got through for a Beverley try to get them going but they then fell further behind as a result of their first comedy of errors. A counter attack from their own 22 looked promising until a wild pass in the centre led to the ball going loose. Some panicky play near the home line resulted and Stockport centre Greg Newton had an easy touchdown for a converted try.

10-0 down Beverley badly needed a score. They had a chance with a long range penalty but Phil Duboulay’s kick went wide in the wind. Things got worse for Beverley. Joe Pickets was yellow carded for a dangerous tackle and just before halftime Stockport flanker Alistair Green ran in another converted try following an attack down the left touchline.

Turning round 17-0 behind Beverley needed an early second half score if they were to have any chance of turning things round. But sadly the half was only three minutes old when another catastrophic bit if handling and panic in their own 22 let Newton in for a third converted Stockport try. At 24-0 it was as good as all over.

But not quite. Led by the outstanding Tonci Buzov at number six the Beverley forwards began to assert themselves. They started to get much cleaner possession and scrum half Tom Steadman was no longer struggling behind a retreating pack. With quicker ball the backs started to make more impact. Birch, Sam Atiola, and Tomasi Tanumi all nearly broke through although they were never quite able to get clear.

Eventually Paul Steadman got over in the corner and wave after wave of attacks threatened to get Beverley back into the match. But it was all too late. Atiola added a second try in injury time but that was as far as they got. Had they played the whole match as they did the last half hour Beverley might well have won this game. But you cannot afford to hand out gift points and still expect to defeat sides of the quality of Stockport, who on this showing look odds-on for promotion. After last week’s fine performance this was a disappointing afternoon for Beverley but it is not the end of the world. They can put this down to an isolated bad day and confidently look to recapture their form next week at Waterloo.

Beverley RUFC 10 Stockport 24 | Reported by John Nursey | Photos by Paul Linton