Starting the day needing a win, an Alnwick loss and an 86 point swing towards us we probably didn’t make enough inroads into that deficit with only a 33 point win and when news of Alnwick’s 43-10 win at Doncaster filtered through our margin of victory proved irrelevant.
In truth the score-line probably wasn’t a true reflection of the game as for long periods Beverley were close and looked threatening in attack. The idea of concentrating on the points difference largely drifted away as we toiled to a lead of 31-17 with 10 minutes to go. But on the back of a typically tenacious performance from Ryan Painter we added 3 tries in the last 10 minutes to put a gloss on the final score.
The game began with a guard of honour for Owen Bennett, the Horden stalwart hanging up his boots after an illustrious career culminating in three excellent years at West. The second row was at his best in his last game of competitive rugby, getting through an enormous amount of work and providing the leadership in the pack that we will doubtless miss next season.
Bennett aside it has been a year of real youth in the first XV and as soon as the whistle went to start the game that theme continued. With only 30 seconds played Liam Checksfield raced away from inside our own half to score the first try of the afternoon.
Beverley pulled a penalty back on 16 minutes through the boot of Phil Duboulay but Jay Corbett added our second try 5 minutes later when he crashed over a few phases after a lineout close to the visitor’s line.
It didn’t open the floodgates as some might have expected with Beverley bouncing back and showing some good touches in attack. Flanker Alex McPeake cut through the defence after some nice build up play and his try and Duboulay’s conversion closed the gap to 12-10.
A minute before the break Checksfield was at it again, this time capitalising on a turnover from Aaron Myers inside our 22 and outpacing the covering defence to race all the way under the posts. It gave us a more comfortable half-time lead but it hadn’t been the one-sided affair some were expecting.
Ryan Painter broke from the base of a scrum just 2 minutes into the second half and despite losing a boot on the way, scored under the posts for the first of his three tries. Brother Gav somehow missed the conversion after trying to drop over a quick one.
Beverley still weren’t to be outdone and slippery centre Tom Hicks wriggled through a few tackles to score with Duboulay again adding the extras.
Peter Youll finished off our best move of the match for a try on 62 minutes when Luke Mallinson ran back a kick and after beating the first few defenders Gav Painter provided the link for Youll to go over.
Ryan Painter had been a real standout performer and he added two quick-fire tries in the last 10 minutes. The first once again came from the base of an attacking scrum and the second, completing his hat-trick, was a superb solo effort – chipping ahead from a tap penalty and gathering himself to finish off the try.
Referee Mark Jude found a few minutes injury time and it was enough for Aaron Myers to complete the scoring, breaking through the midfield defence and easily rounding full-back Junior Tupai.
West: Fewster, Willis, Checksfield, Youll, Mallinson, G Painter, R Painter, Hogan, Rollins, Coates, Bennett, Bunter, Corbett, Myers, Boatman.
Reps: Angus, Atkins, Butcher.
Tries: Checksfield 2, Corbett, R Painter 3, Youll, Myers
Cons: G Painter 5
YC: Myers
Beverley: Tupai, Williams, Graham, Hicks, Smith, Duboulay, Robotham, Morris, Renwick, Wong, Tunde, Regardsoe, Hancock, McPeake, Courtney.
Reps: Brant, Lock, Gill
Tries: McPeake, Hicks
Cons: Duboulay 2
Pen: Duboulay
YC: Tunde, Robotham
Referee: Mark Jude [Durham Society]