League leaders put an end to Beverley RUFC’s unbeaten start to the season

Beverley’s promising unbeaten start to the season came to an abrupt halt against a well-drilled, determined Leodensian on Saturday as they lost 18-26.

A tight first 15 minutes saw both sides have plenty of opportunities close to the line, however a number of mistakes including an unprecedented number of forward passes meant both sides squandered plenty of opportunities to get themselves on the scoresheet.

But it was the Beavers who eventually got the first points of the game with Max Redmond, Dan Lee and Beau English making good yards and they duly obliged when Jamie Maltas added to his impressive tally.

However, the lead didn’t last long as Leo’s well drilled pack worked their way over from a lineout close to the Beverley line, the kick was converted making it 5-7 to the visitors.

But the hosts ensured that they had their noses in front at the break as from the resultant kick off, Leo’s knocked on and from the scrum, Rob Smith darted to the blind side and fed Jake Boardman to race around his winger and make the score 10-7 at half-time.

It was the visitors who came out fastest after the break and edged themselves into the lead after a lethargy in Beverley’s defence allowed them to score with a well worked try almost right from the kick off.

Leodensian continued to disrupt the hosts’ lineouts and being sharper in the breakdown, they began to excerpt a period of pressure which was rewarded saw their lively scrum half darted through a hole to extend the lead.

Beverley now came to life and Smith took three points after a good sustained attacking spell by the home side. Generally though, Leo’s impressive defence kept Beverley at bay and with the home side giving away penalties at key points, they never managed the score they needed.

Indeed, it was a clearance and bobbling ball that Leo’s capitalised on and extended their lead as they scored again making it 26-13 to the visitors.

For the home side, Josh Dillon’s tireless running pushed Beverley forward and they pulled the score back to 26-18, with Ed Mills being sent over by a sharp Max Bayes pass. A comeback though wasn’t to be however, as the difficult conversion was missed and the lack of time remaining meant that Beverley couldn’t make it a grandstand finish.

This weekend seesthe first team on the road as they take on eighth-placed Northallerton RUFC as they look to bounce back from last weekend’s defeat to Leodensian. This month sees the Beavers taking on Hull Ionians Buccaneers at home, then travelling to Ripon RUFC.