Bromley RFC VS Beccehamains RFC

BROMLEY WIN THRILLING LOCAL DERBY

Bromley had three sides playing on Saturday with the firsts at home to near neighbours Beccehamians, the seconds away at Williamsonians and the thirds entertaining Colfeians at home. With Laws, Pillow, Tommy Scott (looking like he had gone a bit heavy on the mascara) and Johnny Griffiths still not available for selection the first team squad was much the same as when they played Deal two weeks ago. Their opponent’s form has been good recently so a close and exciting match looked on the cards and that is exactly what was delivered.

The match started at a furious pace with the away side instantly on the attack and posing problems but Bromley weathered that early storm and settled into the game. Eight minutes in, they were awarded a penalty close to the halfway line. This was dispatched to the corner. The catch and drive was good and with a little recycling, Godden burrowed his way over under a pile of bodies. Five minutes later the home side were awarded another penalty a fair way out but Alex Griffiths hit a beauty straight between the sticks and it was 8-0. Bromley were now fully into it with set pieces working well and from another penalty awarded for a scrum offence on seventeen minutes the backs were set in motion with Powell crashing up the middle, the forwards taking it on close to the posts and George Scott finishing it when he hurtled across the line. Unfortunately, as he did this he took a bit of a knock and had to be replaced by James Rushton. Griffiths converted the try.

Bromley had to soak up a bit of pressure after that and just as Beecehamians looked threatening wide left Joey Richardson intercepted a speculative pass and he was away to score from about fifty metres out which was again sumptuously converted. For the next few minutes, Bromley took control and turned the screw. On twenty seven minutes they were awarded another scrum penalty, again kicked to the corner, lineout won and ball released to McCracken, recycled to the rumbling forwards and with Banfield at the helm, their was only one outcome. Try scored. With about thirty minutes played, Bromley were 27-0 ahead and looking to push on. However, to be fair, the away side had the better of the final ten minutes and showed that they were not going to roll over. It had been a good half for Bromley with the forwards playing well in the tight and loose with the front row especially causing real issues for their opponents at scrum time and around the park. The backs, although not free flowing, were competent in all that they did especially in defence where they really had to be on their mettle. Rushton slotted in at fly half and after an unsteady start with a couple of kicks charged down he settled and showed he had a range of skills at his disposal.

Right from the kick off Beccehamians were at it and it was pretty obvious that they wanted to pay at pace and not get sucked into too many forward exchanges. They were looking to set up big runners in centre field to crash through and then spread the ball wide rapidly. For five minutes Bromley defended desperately but they eventually scored from a lineout and a simple passing move and this was well converted. The next twelve or thirteen minutes were much the same with Bromley struggling to get out of their twenty two never mind their half and the pressure finally told with another converted try leaving the score at 27-14 and plenty of time to go. Apart from their lead narrowing, there were other concerns for Bromley as their set pieces were being challenged and the old demon in the closet the penalty count was beginning to rise. They were defending far too much and far too deep which was great credit to the opposition. Tactics had to change and over the course of the rest of the game, at every opportunity Hawkins, Ruston and Griffiths put boot to ball either with high towering kicks or raking shots into the sidelines. With good chasing and harrying this got Bromley up the field and kept Beccs at arms reach. On sixty eight minutes probably came the defining moment of the game when the away side set up good ball around the halfway line and broke blind and were popping short passes but unfortunately for them, the final one was intercepted again by Joey Richardson and he flew up the pitch to score under the posts for an easy conversion 34-17.

That would knock the stuffing out of most teams but Beccs have a lot of character and came storming back and two minutes later they crashed over again for a converted score. The away side would simply not go away. Immediately after this, there was an exchange of views with the referee (who was very good indeed) offering his opinion and off trudged Brown and the Beccs number nine, yellow carded and no further involvement in the game. Beccehamians had run themselves ragged trying to get back into the game making it a great spectacle but they seemed to run out of ideas late on and Bromley negotiated the last ten minutes reasonably comfortably with Griffiths kicking another penalty late on to leave the result at 37-21. This had been a terrific match up between two very good local and grassroots rugby clubs which is what this league should be about.

Two stand out Bromley players for me on the day were George Hawkins at full back who reigned in his attacking instincts to patrol the backfield, snuff out several dangerous situations and belted the ball up the park terrorising Beccs back three and Mike Haisell in the forwards who was prominent in the loose and on quite a number of occasions picked the ball up at number eight off the back of the scrum to drive Bromley upfield and out of danger. 

The seconds travelled to Williamsonians for a difficult looking fixture and so it proved going down 31-17. They gave it a good crack but came up a little short on the day. The thirds welcomed Colfeians who turned up pretty short in numbers but Bromley lent them a few to ensure a game could go ahead resulting in a home win 69-17. We cannot thank Colfs enough for fulfilling this fixture as they could easily have cancelled. It meant thirty plus guys could have a game and the score is irrelevant possibly. Player of the match for the first team was Joey Richardson, the seconds Tom Croft and thirds Luke Bradley. I am not aware of any games this coming Saturday as yet.