Beverley Held At Home As Driffield Fight Back

So in the end it finished all square. Both sides were probably left feeling a sense of frustration, Beverley perhaps the more so because with ten minutes left they led 23-11 with the game as good as won. Driffield for their part had the chance to snatch victory with a fairly easy conversion at the death but missed it. Still, on the whole for spectators this was an enjoyable local derby in spite of the awful wet, windy, and murky conditions.

Driffield had the better of the early play and it needed some heroic Beverley defending to keep them out. Eventually after ten minutes Driffield did break through. A fine tackle by Tom Shires looked to have saved the day but Driffield somehow kept their attack going with some crisp inter-passing and prop Felix Nellon crashed over.

Phil Duboulay and Driffield fly half Colin Lucas then exchanged penalties before Duboulay slotted his second to bring Beverley to 6-8. Driffield continued to have the better of things but on twenty five minutes the game was suddenly turned on its head. Just when a second Driffield try looked certain Luke Hazell took an interception almost on his own line and sprinted away down the touchline. Once in his stride he never looked like being caught and he ran in under the posts to give Beverley the lead with a try which Duboulay converted. Now it was all Beverley.

Duboulay kicked another penalty and on the stroke of halftime David Worrall caught Driffield napping with a quickly taken tap penalty to cross in the corner for another converted try. 23-8 up at halftime and completely on top it was hard to see Beverley not winning from there.

Early in the second half Lucas kicked a penalty but otherwise Driffield seldom looked like breaking through. Even allowing for the wet conditions much of their handling was suspect and their attacks were quickly bottled up by the Beverley defence. In the gloomy conditions the game began to drift into a midfield stalemate with neither side able to find any penetration in midfield.

In the last quarter Driffield upped their game and they ended the match as they had started it. None the less Beverley comfortably kept them at bay and it looked odds on that Beverley would finish with a second victory. But ten minutes from time it all went wrong. They made a dreadful hash of a lineout on halfway and lost the ball. Driffield surged away down the right touchline and after the ball had been moved left and then right flanker George Mewburn went over for a converted try. Suddenly at 18-23 Driffield were right back in it.

Beverley by now had lost their earlier spark and were struggling to make much impact in attack, well though their pack was playing. Driffield needed only a try to draw level. Five minutes from time they duly got it when centre Ed Askew rounded off some sustained pressure to touch down and leave Driffield with a straightforward conversion to win the match. To Beverley’s relief and Driffield’s frustration the kick went wide. As time ran out Beverley threw everything into recovering the lead but it was to no avail and both sides had to settle for a share of the points.

To Driffield who sit comfortably in mid table the draw was probably of little consequence. For Beverley, who badly need league points, not to have won was a huge disappointment. For most of the match they had played well. The return of Alex Ogilvie and Danny Morris at prop made a huge impact and the pack looked altogether better for the much needed extra muscle which they brought. One impressive rolling maul all the way from halfway was stopped barely five metres short of the line. Happily despite not winning Beverley continue to show a steady improvement. There is plenty of spirit there and they must surely soon hope to get away from the foot of the table.

Final Score : Beverley RUFC 23 Driffield 23 | Reported by John Nursey