Beccehamian 28 Vs Ashford 7 - 25th November 2006 Playing up the slope in the first half Beccs were in determined mood to capture a must win and they made their intentions clear straight from the received kick off where their forwards took the Ashford pack on with several driving mauls up the field. This early pressure resulted in a neat catch and drive 15 yards out with No.8 Rupert Chitty at the bottom of the pack clutching the ball. 5-0. With Ashford still under severe early pressure defending their try line a sloppy lineout trying to be clever and throwing short resulted in “Sniper Sweeting” stealing the ball and crashing over from 3 yards for the second score, 10-0. Beccs had complete control of the game. From quick ruck ball, scrum half Sean Welch fed to Buckle, then Chitty who appeared in the centre who sucked in the defence to release a neat pass outside to Gbemi Fisher who with great pace left his opposite number grasping at thin air to score in the corner from 40 yards out, 15-0. Thinking life would be easier away from the scrum the Ashford back line were called into action to break the gain line. Beccs back division stood tall all afternoon, Buckle, Alcorn and Goodwillie regularly holding up their opposite numbers up in the tackle creating turnover ball, Fisher and Bryan on the wings (& latterly Sam Painter) comfortably making their tackles and beating their opponents for pace in attack. Ashford were running out of ideas, their fly-half attempted to push his side into Beccs territory by kicking away a large percentage of their limited possession to the Beccs back three who were combining well and gratefully counter attacking and making up as much ground as the kick had gained. One of which resulted in a 60 yard return with winger Tony Bryan collecting an Ashford clearance, switch with Kemp on their own 10 metre line who made 25 yards including a trademark “bosh” of the opposing loose head much to the amusement of the vocal sideline, fed inside to a wave of support from Welch and the hard working 2nd row Michael O’Hehir amongst other forwards who charged another 25 yards forward. With the Beccs pressure and Ashford penalty count mounting, repeated infringements gave Goodwillie the chance for 3 points in front of the posts which he duly took, 18-0. Considering the heavy under foot conditions following a morning downpour Beccs by now were playing free and open rugby with an array of inter-passing that resulted in several attacks covering 50% of the pitch. Sublime stuff. Ashford had a put-in to the scrum early in the 2nd half defending their own try line, Welch was sharp to see an opportunity and poached to continue the momentum, 23-0. With Welch off the pitch with a calf injury Beccs were down to 14 men with 15 minutes left and took their foot off the pedal, to their credit Ashford kept going and found some holes to score under the posts, 23-7. With the game nearing its conclusion a hole seen behind the scrum produced a neat kick through by Beccs and a foot race between winger Fisher and the backtracking Ashford openside winger resulted in a well deserved 2nd try for Fisher. Players man of the match was Rupert Chitty and Tony Bryan coaches man of the match. Undoubtedly the entire Beccs forwards deserve huge credit for destroying an Ashford pack that would not have enjoyed their afternoon at Sparrows Den. However, the return fixture at Ashford on 6th January will be a much tougher encounter. Beccs travel to Dartfordians on 2nd December where both sides will be eager to grasp the 2 points on offer.