Beccehamians 55 -V- Dartfordians 5- 14th April 2007 On a glorious and sunny Saturday afternoon Beccehamians finished their London SE4 league campaign with a convincing 55-5 home victory over bottom placed Dartfordians. With 8 front row unavailable Beccs were fortunate to even start the fixture. Thanks to some shrewd negotiations with experienced & semi-retired players midweek Beccs fielded a strong team eager to finish the season on a high and provide outgoing captain Ian Anderson with the perfect send off after his successful 3 year tenure. Starting down the slope Beccs were eager to stamp their authority and take the game to the opposition. Beccs spent the first 5 mins in their own half and realised this was not going to be an easy encounter. After 15mins on their own 22 retiring scrum-half Sean Welch (until September at least!) passed blind to inside-centre Daniel Kemp who spotting the gap between the centres, & realising his own lack of pace, kicked to space for newly signed winger Kwobena Yeboah who pounced on a fortuitous bounce and cantered home from 50 yards to touch down near the posts. Other than the first “duffed-chip shot” fly-half Tim Buckle was making 30-45 yards on every clearance kick giving Beccs great field position. Beccs were asserting control and the forwards taking the game to Darts. The Robinson brothers Gareth & Grant in the tight five doing the hard graft with Dwyer, Hayler and Paterson. Back row of Jones, Anderson & Chitty making thumping tackles and always offering support for team-mates. Constantly producing quick ball swiftly distributed by Welch to the back line, quick miss pass to Sam Painter coming off his wing creating the extra man, with a 2 on 1 Sam drew his opposite number and gifted Cob his 2nd try from 5yds out. Opting for the line rather than 3 penalty points the forwards took a catch and drive from 15 yards, Hooker Brian Paterson emerging with the ball at the bottom of the resultant charge over the line. On 30 mins Beccs 5metre scrum, Welch pop ball to Kemp who crashed over the try line through the back peddling Darts defence. Dartfordians had to start playing for territory to get out of their half. Although the darts kickers had good boots they didn’t always find touch which allowed the back three of Jim Bryan, Sam and Kwobena to counter-attack at pace regularly making 30-40 yards in the process, linking back up with the forwards who advanced into the darts half of the pitch. The 2nd half re-start didn’t go 10 which immediately put Beccs on the back foot, sensing the opportunity just 3mins into the 2nd half a Darts scrum 22 from the Beccs try line saw Darts back row combine to find an open gap and score to give them some hope of a comeback. This was short-lived and Beccs were in no mood to concede another. Further trys from Adrian Dwyer, Jim Bryan, who also kicked 5 from 9 conversions, a trademark 15 yrd charge from Rupert Chitty who was making 10 yards at a time all afternoon and two from outside centre Dave Matthews. Matthews’ first try a simple hands down the back line and running straight into space from 5 yds out, the 2nd after a set play break on half way from Kemp who drew the full back on the 22 and passed back inside to an unchallenged run in under the posts. With the heat taking its toll substitutions would play a key part. First hooker Brian Paterson took a well earned rest on the hour mark, replaced by Marco Camillo. Then the injury list started to take hold. At first retiring fly-half Tim Buckle's calf decided enough was enough and he left the field to rapturous applause for his many years of 1st XV service. This saw a reshuffle with Jim Bryan moving from 15 to 10, Kemp moving back to 15 and new signing "Rocky" coming off the bench to 12. Beccs were now throwing the ball around and enjoying themselves. From a Darts clearance Kemp ran the ball back beating 2 players, was tackled and landed badly with a Darts player on his left leg, fearing a broken limb & sounding like a 3 year old who's Easter egg had been stolen he limped off and was replaced by Jason Pretorius. Unfortunately Rocky's first run had tweaked his hamstring and he lasted 5 mins before also limping off. The last 8 mins saw Beccs down to 14 men who were still determined to finish on the up and were passing the ball around like it was the first game of the season. To their credit once again Dartfordians showed tremendous spirit & general sportsmanship in refusing to give up and were still competing for the ball and tackling right up until the final whistle. Beccehamians’ second half of the season produced 7 wins and 2 losses (to 1st & 2nd placed Eastbourne & Dover) leaving them in joint 4th place on their return to London SE4. Team: Gareth Robinson, Brian Paterson, Nick Hayler, Grant Robinson, Adrian Dwyer, Rupert Chitty, Sean Jones, Ian Anderson, Sean Welch, Tim Buckle, Sam Painter, Daniel Kemp, Dave Matthews, Kwobena Yeboah, Jim Bryan - Subs; Marco Camillo, Rocky, Jason Pretorious