Beccahamians RFC VS Bromley RFC
Results
Club | Points | Outcome |
---|---|---|
Beccehamian RFC | 10 | Loss |
Bromley RFC | 19 | Win |
SUPER WEEKEND FOR BROMLEY
On Saturday the club had three senior sides out with the ones and threes travelling the short distance to Beccehamians and the twos taking on Old Williamsonians at home. On Sunday the Academy team had an away fixture at Maidstone. On paper all challenging games.
The previous Saturday the first team were away at Dover and got a very warm welcome from a robust Sharks side. Bromley played catch up for most of the game but kept in touch with a try by Rushton and successful kicks by Johnny Griffiths and Rushton. Going into the dying embers of the game Bromley launched one more sustained attack ending with Carroll barnstorming over from five centimetres for the equalising try. Game ended 24 all but it was two very hard earned points. More or less the same Dover side lost by 80-30 away to Sevenoaks on Saturday which is a bit of a concern to the rest of the teams in this league apart from Canterbury.
Back to Sparrows Den and Bromley turned up with a pretty strong squad which was a relief as on the last two occasions that they have been here they had teams decimated by injury and unavailability and were duly heavily punished. No excuses this time. Having said that they will probably want to forget the first half as precious little went right or their way. Too many components of their game were misfiring which led to frustration and an inability to get properly into the game. I am sure the coaches will look at why this was. As for Beccs, they looked a good, well drilled side who looked to punch holes through the first line of defence and then spread the ball wide at pace to use their skilful backs.
The game kicked off and Beccs scored in the left hand corner within twenty seconds but no as the referee had not blown his whistle to start the game so it was take two. The first five minutes were spent in and around the Bromley twenty two and being generous chaps they gave away two penalties and the home skipper Tom Davey said thank you very much and crashed over right of the posts. The conversion was surprisingly missed but to be fair it was not a thing of beauty. The game continued with Beccs mainly in the ascendancy and Bromley struggling to find a way into the match and unsurprisingly they coughed up another try when poor tackling let the home side score in the left hand corner. Again unconverted. Bromley not helped around this time by a yellow card for Rushton for a high tackle. No complaints they had been warned.
Towards the end of the half, Bromley began to show signs of life. The scrum was secure, lineout ball started to be won, passes began to stick, the backs showed a bit of spark and on thirty eight minutes they unravelled a great attacking move as they swept across the pitch to release James Powell who was bearing down on the line. Mon dieu he dropped the ball and at half time the score was 10-0 to Beccs. Most Bromley supporters would have taken that and be grateful it was not more.
The break was badly needed by the away side as they seriously had to up their game as they would be leaving with nothing. Tweaks to the side were made and some sensible advice was delivered as Bromley were a different proposition in the second half. They now went on the front foot tackling hard and not giving Beccs the time and space they had enjoyed in the first half. They also kicked for territory with George Hawkins in particular giving the home team’s back three a torrid time under the high ball. The Bromley backrow of Taylor, Godden and Tommy Scott went into overdrive and gave their opposite numbers a searching examination and with captain Robbie Brown going through a ton of work things looked more promising but they remained behind on the scoreboard.
On fifty four minutes Beccs were penalised for diving over a ruck and Johnny Griffiths was there like a flash, took a quick tap and he careered off down the field sucking in defenders and he released ace poacher Pillow who still had work to do but with hips going one way and the body the other he was away and in for the try to the right of the posts. Griffiths struck a lovely conversion and now there were only three points in it. Four minutes later and Bromley were pressing again. Penalty awarded to them for a high tackle. If successful it would tie the scores but it drifted wide on the crosswind.
Still, Bromley pressed and on sixty eight minutes the forwards turned the ball over in midfield, good passing by the backs, Hawkins into the line, defenders drawn in, long pass to release Powell. He caught it and off he charged with work to do but he is a strong and powerful ball carrier. He was not to be denied and scored a wonderful team try in the left hand corner. No conversion but they were now two points ahead. Not enough as Beccs were still dangerous as they showed on a couple of occasions during the half.
At this point, Powell retired from the field of play having tweaked one of his many muscles again. A two point game with ten minutes to go and all to play for. On seventy three minutes Bromley had a lineout about thirty metres out. They threw it long, a tactic which was not very successful on the day, and it came back bouncing along the ground. Young prop Withers, who is finding his feet at this level amongst other parts of his body, did remarkably well to pick up the ball and surge forward with it and then slipped a subtle offload to the charging Godden. He had threatened to break through on several occasions and this time he bullocked his way through a couple of tackles and he was off legs pumping, mullet swirling in the breeze and he dived over the line near the posts and Griffiths was never going to miss this conversion. Great score warmly received by the supporters on the sidelines. 10-19 ahead and with injury time probably eight or nine minutes to get through.
The first five safely negotiated but Bromley could not resist giving away two late penalties and found themselves defending in their twenty two. Beccs catch and drive surging towards the line. Almighty pushing and shoving match which went on for a while and suddenly game is over as Bromley turn the ball over and kick it off the park for the win. Very good game of rugby between two fine sides which could have gone either way. Game of two halves for Bromley and they perhaps will look at why they were so average in the first and so much better in the second. Man of the match was rightly awarded to Tommy Scott whose workrate throughout the game was truly astonishing.
Over on another pitch the threes were being put through their paces by Beccs threes. They rose to the challenge magnificently ending up winning 12-61. Barrie got three tries and Harris two. The previous week they hosted Dartford Valley. The official score was 40-0 but I believe it was more than double that with Formoy getting two tries, Hatzidakis two and a certain Ben Bromage coming out of the closet to get one as well.
Back at Barnet Wood Road the twos entertained Old Williamsonians and this proved to be a cracking contest. The home side found themselves quite a long way behind at the break but in the second half they produced an exciting brand of fifteen man rugby and emerged winners by 39-26. Man of the match Joey Richardson scored three tries. The previous week they travelled to Kings College Hospital who had been on a good run of form but on the day were no match for Bromley who came away with a 7-36 victory.
On Sunday the Academy side travelled to Maidstone and rounded off a super weekend for the club being victorious 10-17. Tries scored by Brook, Timmins and Martin. Men of the Match jointly awarded to Joe Harris and Luke Altree.
Next week, Bromley hosts Canterbury and they will certainly need their A game to be competitive, The twos travel to Cliffe Crusaders and the threes are away hopefully playing Charlton Park seconds.