BEAUFORT RFC 41 POINTS HARTRIDGE RFC 12 POINTS

Date:- 12th November 2011

Venue:- Beaufort

Fixture:- WRU Division 6 East

BEAUFORT RFC 41 POINTS HARTRIDGE RFC 12 POINTS

Beaufort can be well pleased with this bonus point win in which they were made to work harder than the score line reflects. It was a contest between two teams of contrasting styles.Hartridge had the structure for a pick up and drive game in which they excelled testing the Beaufort defence to the full but they were totally lacking in any vibrancy behind . The visitors were undone by a series of gaffs and handling blunders which to do so was to court disaster with the host side that had enough, edge steel and pace to inflict serious damage.

Lewis Hodson got Beaufort off to a good start with a penalty .This was quickly followed by the first try. A touchline kick was not checked by the visitors that bounced back into the waiting arms of wing Kyle Purnell who stood up in the tackle long enough for his fullback Matthew Burrows to take a pass and he raced through a yawning gap to make the touchdown for Hodson to convert. It was a neat chip by Darrel Roper behind the defence that led to the second . His brother Lee made the most of the loose ball to score in the corner. Hodson's majestic kick from the touchline improved the score to 17 points without reply. On the half hour they had scored again when Hartridge lost the ball in contact and Hodson's speed carried him through a hapless defence to cross the try line leaving him a simple conversion

Hartridge had already served notice of their forward power in a series of passionate driving mauls which Beaufort only just managed to quell But in the last ten minutes of an all action first half they went through the phases retaining the ball in a relentless series of drives to keep Beaufort pinned down on their line . The defence finally cracked and the visitors earned themselves a deserved try to end the half 24 points to 5 in arrears

Beaufort's bonus point try was not long coming after the restart. Skillful handling mixed with bags of pace and electricity in the attack got their opponents in trouble again . On this occasion it was Purnell who was the benificary of a fine passage of play for the fourth try. However, Hartridge struck back again with another telling driving maul that Beaufort failed to stop. A touchline conversion narrowed the gap with still plenty of game time left. But just before the end of the third quarter a lightening Beaufort attack from half way created the overlap and centre Geraint Phillips crashed over for a fifth touchdown to extend the lead to 34 points to 12

The last try came with just 10 minutes of playing time to stop any hope of a Hartridge revival With the Beaufort's backs having scoredall the points it was fitting that the hard work of the forwards should get some recognition and it was No 8 Andrew Morgan who capped a fine display to get Beaufort's sixth which Hodson slotted over. Hartridge did finish strongly as Beaufort were pinged continuously and had a player sin binned. But they failed to make any telling advantage to get a consolation score.

Next week Beaufort travel to Whiteheads