Beverley Beaten By A Big Score As Sandal Run Riot At Beaver Park

Pretty much a no-contest. Sandal are a polished side almost certainly destined for promotion while Beverley are in a state of transition following the summer departure of many of their senior players.

As a result this was largely a case of men against boys. Already 37-0 down at halftime Beverley were lucky to get away with a final deficit of only 51 points. Their young pack put in some gritty work but lacked the experience to make much of an impact. The Sandal backs, particularly at halfback, were allowed far too much time and space. Beverley themselves never lacked for ambition but it was all very laboured and error-strewn. They seldom looked like scoring.

Sandal spent the first half romping along at a point a minute. Beverley are at present be-devilled by an apparent urge to kick possession away, invariably with poor and aimless kicks straight to an opponent. The game was only three minutes old when the first such kick led to wing Gareth Newman going over in the corner for Sandal’s first try.

Full back James Ellar put them 8-0 up with a penalty after which Beverley enjoyed a brief spell of good attacking rugby. Had they taken their chances then and managed to register on the scoreboard they might conceivably have gone on to make a game of it.

Sadly it never happened. They hardly ever again got into a good attacking position. Flanker James Stewart added a second Sandal try as the match continued to slip away. Phil Duboulay was yellow carded and from the resulting penalty centre Dave Martin touched down in the corner to take it to 20-0. Newman added another try after which Beverley’s woes worsened with the departure of the injured Iain Morrison who had been their most effective back.

A well worked converted try for fly half Mark Pease and a third for Newman left Beverley reeling at the break. 37-0 down already. And another forty minutes to endure – for players and supporters alike. But Beverley made a better fist of it after the interval and Sandal were restricted to only two further scores.

The first came early in the half when Sandal number 8 Tom Cotterill rounded off a clever break down the middle for another converted try. Beverley continued to play with ambition but almost every time they ran the ball possession somehow ended up with Sandal. Only when Lee Birch had the ball in his hands did a score look a possibility for Beverley, but he hardly ever had it.

With the outcome long settled interest in the game petered out as the half wore on. Beverley might have scored when Sandal were down to 13 with two men in the sin bin. Their forwards pounded the visitors line but to no avail and Birch would have had a simple touchdown in the corner had the final pass to him gone to hand. In the end the only further score was a try by Sandal centre Joe Allott which Pease converted. Beverley’s misfortunes continued when Dave Brant was carried from the field on a stretcher and Junior Tupai received a late yellow card. The carding had little effect on proceedings except to raise a few eyebrows as to how a relatively clean fought game could have produced four yellow cards.

Sandal now head the league with five wins out of six while Beverley continue to languish in the lower reaches. They were unquestionably up against a very good side here but it was still a hefty defeat. Today they were guilty of too many basic errors and overall they lacked the urgency of the Sandal side.

Things may well come right but the young players will now be in no doubt that life at this level can be tough. This was Lee Birch’s last game before he departs to play in Italy. He has been a key player for Beverley and his exciting running always a pleasure to watch. We wish him well.

Final Score : Beverley RUFC 0 Sandal 51 | Reported By John Nursey