After a good win the previous week. Beverley RUFC 2nd XV 2nds were hoping for a repeat performance against Hullensians on Saturday. The game was of specific importance to the Beverley RUFC 2nd XV captain Stu Charlton, as he was playing against his former Hullensians team mates. After a very good victory away in the league earlier in the season, he knew the Hull side would be after revenge.
The away team started much brighter with some conviction and determination from the Hull players to get through the Beverley RUFC 2nd XV defence no matter what. Some slick passing by the forwards, even after being tackled meant that the 1st score was quick to arrive. Beverley RUFC 2nd XV were still reeling from the initial shock from going 7 down after 5 minutes, when Hull carved through the defence once more to score again. Beverley RUFC 2nd XV were missing too many tackles and not closing down the opposition which was making it easy for a very strong Hull side.
After some encouraging words from Coach Ian Archibald, Beverley RUFC 2nd XV started to wake up and be a little more aggressive in their play. Some excellent tackling from stand in Scrum half Dale Hodgson and young flanker Gav Jenny, ensured that it wasn’t going to be all plain sailing for the away team. Unfortunately several lapses of concentration later, and Ensians had crossed the try line once more. Mainly through poor defending from the Beverley RUFC 2nd XV team. One more easy try for Hull and the score was 0-28.
Some tactical substitutions at half time, with Andy Ellis coming on at scrum half, and Hodgson reverting to his favoured position of flanker, meant that Beverley RUFC 2nd XV had a little more structure going into the second half. Beverley RUFC 2nd XV started the brighter of the two teams. Some excellent rucking from the forwards followed up by some great offloading from the centres, meant that Beverley RUFC 2nd XV started to finally realise their potential and started to play their game.
Matt Brown put in some useful hits, whilst Gav Jenny and Hodgson continued to be outstanding around the pitch, and were showing up some of the more experienced players. After some good turn over play in the Ensians 22, Hodgson raced on to a grubber kick and somehow managed to ground the ball over the try line. Despite some very valid protests from the Ensians team that their player grounded the ball 1st, the ref allowed the try to stand and the home side got their 1st score. Unfortunately the conversion was missed so the score remained 5-28.
Beverley RUFC 2nd XV retained their new found conviction, and continued to press the opposition well in their 22 and it looked like it wouldn’t be long until they scored again.
Excellent rucking from the front 3 meant that the ball was being recycled quickly and the home side were pushing Hull back to their own try line. After some determined defending on their own line from the Ensians team, Beverley RUFC 2nd XV were finally rewarded for their hard work, when Andy Meagher touched down under the posts. Once again, the conversion was missed so the score remained at 10-28.
The game seemed to fizzle out after that, with neither side making much of an impact on the other. The only memorable thing for almost ten minutes was when Some dodgy referring decisions, landed assistance coach Rob Todd in hot water for shouting at the ref from the sidelines.
After several substitutions for Hull, they stepped up their game once more and started to carve up the Beverley RUFC 2nd XV defence who had clearly gone to sleep after a ten minute period of inactivity.
Some sloppy tackling meant that Ensians were on the score sheet again, after some excellent running from their Hooker. Into the final 5 minutes, Ensians had the upper hand and were pressing all the time. An excellent cover tackle just short of the Beverley RUFC 2nd XV try line from the skipper Stu Charlton kept the Hull side from scoring again.
Unfortunately this was not to be repeated as a poor attempted tackle by the same player on Hull forward Jason Conroy meant the away team ended the game with another try, and ran out comfortable winners 45-10.
Despite the score line, both the Captain and coach agreed that there were plenty of positives to take out of the game. The coach was especially pleased with the way the younger less experienced players in the team have performed in the last two games . A special mention must go to Gav Jenney, who was magnificent throughout the game, and richly deserved his Man of the Match accolade.
