Coach Proud Of Effort And Attitude Shown Following Heavy Defeat

The build-up to this fixture in the week had been a stressful one. This was reflected in coach Sam French’s after-match comments following the Blue & Golds losing 40-8 to Heworth.

French said;

“After a disruptive week through COVID, restricting the team selection to late Friday, I couldn’t be prouder of the effort and attitude of the players against a very tough Heworth side.”

“Our attention now turns to Clock Face at home in two weeks’ time. It’s time to regroup, keep focussed and prepare the best we can because that is a huge game.”

On top of COVID the team had a very lengthy injury list, indeed too long to start compiling a list.

However, after the short trip up to York, the game kicked off and it looked ominous for the visitors after only 2 minutes. George Elliot crossed for the home side in their very first set of six. Elliot converted his own try.

The hosts did continue to threaten and there were a couple of last-ditch tackles from full-back Charlie Gay which denied them further scores. Beverley warmed to the task and did complete their sets well.
Good yardage was made by Alex Calvert, David Gary and man of the match Alex Nutall.

Some good pivotal organisation was provided by Joe Morley, wearing the loose forward shirt for the day.
The visitors were competing well until a set restart put pressure on their defence. Soon after George Elliot crossed quickly followed by another try by Danny Allen for the hosts. Elliot converted the Allen try.

Fraser West added a further try just before half-time for Heworth. Elliot converted to make the score 22-0.  The visitors were incensed by what appeared to be some harsh refereeing decisions. This culminated in a sin-binning for Josh Hamlyn for showing dissent.

Beverley enjoyed their best spell of the game shortly after the break. Callum Cone and Joe Morley organised the side well and a quality set forced a line drop-out. They reaped the rewards in the repeat set, as the ball was moved swiftly to the left for Jon Norman to score wideout. The extras could not be added.

With the scores pulled back to 22-4, the visitors scrambled well in defence. on a couple of occasions, Will Kirkup came from nowhere to make cover tackles.

The home side was denied further points until the 62nd minute when Liam Watling crossed. Soon after, Danny Allen crossed and George Elliot completed a hat-trick. Elliot converted all 3 second-half tries for Heworth.

The visitors finished with a flourish. In the 78th minute, Charlie Gay kicked ahead and regathered the ball to get an inside pass to Will Kirkup who touched down wideout.

The extras were not added and Beverley saw out the remaining minutes without conceding further.
Beverley will now enjoy a fortnight’s rest which should allow for the clearing up of injuries and recovery from COVID cases.