The Pythons welcomed East Riding side Beverley to a dry Jim Saynor Ground. Although without a win so far this season, Beverley had played the top league sides pushing some of them close so John Liley’s men knew they had to be on top of their game.
The half started with The Pythons dominating the phase plays with Peter Millward and George Booth driving play deep into the away side’s 22. Beverley were forced to give away a penalty at the breakdown, Jed Carr drilled his kick into the corner but a knock on in the line out gave Bev a chance to clear. Beverley were quickly on the offensive. After 5 mins influential Millward was forced to leave the field shortly followed by captain Hugh Tatlow – both with injuries. The home side kept the pressure on and a turn over in midfield gives Freddie Abraham the chance to get his back line moving. Will Milnes and Booth carry hard with Ben Pryor and Jack Whiting safe in the centres. Millward returns to the field and is straight back into the game. Whiting cuts through the middle releasing Tom Roberts to gain valuable yards. Tatlow returns to the field and Carr kicks a penalty deep into the Beverley 22. Milnes wins clean ball, Millward carries to the next phase. Abrahams whips the ball Rhys Cory to Max Sharp who feeds Roberts to drive over in the corner. 5-0 on 30mins. Pryor lands a penalty inches short and the ref blows for half time.
Pryor kicks a penalty early in the 2nd half, 8-0. Beverley respond quickly 8-7. Booth, Milnes and Tatlow drive through the phases marshalled by Abrahams. Millward shrugs off would be tacklers and is bought down 3 metres short. Harry Butler is on hand to dive over, Pryor with the extras, 15-7. Beverley bounce back 15-14 and then take the lead with a penalty 15-17, only 5 mins remaining. The Pythons gain a penalty 10m out. Andy MacKay taps and goes pulled down at the base of the posts, Butler on hand to get his second. Pryor with the conversion, 22-7 0n 78 mins. The Pythons win the restart and are back on the offensive, win a penalty 10m out. Tatlow, looking for the bonus point, opts to scrum, he picks and drives held 1m short and that man Butler is there again for his hat trick and a try bonus point. Pryor adds the 2, 29-17 full time.
After the game Coach John Liley said,” We got our league campaign back on track showing great character to record a bonus point victory against Beverley. With honours even for much of the first half we eventually put points on the scoreboard but throughout the game Beverley continued to claw themselves back into the game with their own scores.
With Beverley eventually taking the lead and with only 5 minutes remaining Pythons showed great patience and great determination to cross the whitewash twice to gain a bonus point victory. We corrected our mistakes from previous weeks to put in a fantastic performance. We now need to build on this moving forward. It was a whole team effort that produced the performance, and gained us the result we fully deserved”.
The Whitakers Gin MOM was awarded by Roy MacKay to a deserving Pete Millward.
The 1st XV have this Saturday off then travel to Old Rishworthian on 1st November in the quarter finals of The Yorkshire Shield.
#HarrogatePythons #UpThePythons #GrassrootsRugby
Interview: