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Wharfedale advance to final for third successive year
Beverley 11 Wharfedale 24
Not without alarms, and having to spend much more time in their own half than probably anticipated, Wharfedalemade the Yorkshire Cup Final for the third successive year.
They had to overcome a robust Beverley team performing well enough to suggest that their relegation from 3 North this season could be just a passing blip in their general improvement in recent years.
The last time the Greens visited Beverley in the Cup (April 2003) they won a knife-edged contest 22-21. But, that was with a Foresters line-up. No liberties were taken this time. Wharfedale sent the strongest side available - and just as well!
The early evening kick-off, and players arriving from various directions, made for somewhat disjointed preparation for the game, and this showed in a shaky start by the Greens, several passes going astray.
Nevertheless, they mostly controlled the opening half-hour. A fifth-minute penalty by Andy Baggett, and his converted try (26 minutes), capitalising on good work by Mark Bedworth and James Doherty, built a 10-0 lead.
The Dalesmen should have been further ahead at this stage, and the failure to take other chances was underlined as the Beavers began to get their act together, with extended spells of pressure on the visitors' defence.
By the interval Beverley were well in the match, with confidence visibly growing. A penalty (36 minutes) by scrum-half Ian Archibald opened their account.
A driven try in the left corner (hooker Shaun Cross) in first-half added time, following a telling burst down the wing by full-back Jerry Barnes, cut the lead to just two points.
Baggett was pleased to convert a penalty (45 minutes) from in front of the posts (having previously ordered kickable chances to be directed to touch), and then had to marshall his defence as Beverley dominated possession for the next 20 minutes.
The Greens dug in well, and though the home side tried all they knew to break through, only once, when a catch and drive took the Beverley pack to within inches of the try line, did defence have an air of desperation.
Seeing no way past the determined defenders, player-coach and stand-off Anthony Posa contented himself with a fine drop goal (65 minutes), leaving the Greens' lead at a tenuous 13-11.
Beverley continued to have their full share of possession but now, when they made inroads into Greens territory, they were usually sent back into their own half by naggingly accurate touch-kicking by Bedworth, whose magnificent clearances must have made agonising watching for the hosts, seeing hard won ground negated so effectively.
A third Baggett penalty (69 minutes) eased Wharfedale nerves, and they coped reasonably comfortably with Beverley's now less-co-ordinated - but nonetheless enthusiastic' efforts - to the final whistle.
Indeed, the Dalesmen finished the game on a high, at last producing the touch of class that set them apart from their opponents, who, by comparison, offered mostly only vigorously honest endeavours.
The game had entered stoppage time when prop Tom Horner's run was halted unceremoniously by a charging opponent with little concern for making a legal tackle, and Baggett took his personal tally to 19 points with his fourth penalty success.
Then came the try that helped the sizeable contingent of Wharfedale fans forget much of the preceding frustrations. Chris Malherbe did the hard work, with a 60 metre break from inside the Greens' half. He slipped the ball to Baggett, who swapped slick passes with Bedworth, finally leaving the centre clear for a splendid touch-down.
The Wharfedale skipper felt the conversion should have completed a 100 per cent goal-kicking record in the game but the ball did pass over the post, not inside it, as the player thought.
Beverley: J Barnes; A Spence, J Gardiner, G Hope, U Cuozzo; A Posa, I Archibald; K Smith, S Cross, J Armitage, G Jackson, D Brant, M Shaw, D Worrall, J McKay.
Wharfedale: A Hodgson; A Lovatt, C Malherbe, M Bedworth, M Simpson (R Gill 75); A Baggett, J Doherty (J Gill 45); T Horner, G Hindle (D Charnley 60), B Titman (P Altham 40), D Lister, A Capstick (O Renton 40), A Allen, R Lednor (C Howick 45), D Clements.
2:29pm Thursday 24th April 2008
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