Sunday 26th September 2004 1st XV: Dartfordians 5 - Beccehamians 24 Dev XV: Dartfordians 0 - Beccehamians 57 Photos of the matches more.. After the trial fixture against Orpington the previous Sunday, Beccs U13's got down to business with the first full matches of the season. Both Beccs and Darts were able to get two sides out which was fantastic news as it meant that virtually all of the boys in the squads were able to get full games. 1st XV: Won 24 - 5 A sleepy start by Beccs and with Darts using the slope well resulted in Darts exerting pressure in the Beccs 22m for the first 5 minutes. After absorbing this initial burst, Beccs slowly started to move up the pitch through their forwards and the occasional burst from their backs with Luke Davey and William Bull making good yardage. A clever chip by Elliot Sheppard put the Darts winger under pressure near his own try-line, a hasty clearance went in-field whereupon another Darts player was called off-side. Realising that after 15 mins that this match was going to be close, Beccs decided to try to take 3 points and kick the penalty. Oilver Fitzgerald stepped up and with the first of many clean strikes put the 3 points on the board. With this Beccs grew in confidence and started to take control. The scrums were well contested and the back play was pretty even aswell. Defence and ball retention were going to be key to the game and with some strong tackling by both sides some turnovers occured. However, Beccs continued to get past the gain line which put them on the front foot in attack and defence and after securing a number of phases of play Henry Smith went over for the first try, converted by Fitzgerald. Just before the break, agian through some good ball retention, Beccs moved up the pitch and with a strong run by Nick Freeman supported by Alex Requena and Jamie Bentley, he was able to force himself over, converted by Fitzgerald. Half time 17-0. In the second half Darts rallied and put more pressure on up front, but a long kick from Beccs put the Darts back division under pressure and after a mix-up in defence in the in-goal area, Aaron O'Connor was able to pounce on the loose ball for an opportunist try, converted by Sean Ellis. Darts didn't give up and moved into Beccs half where they spent the next 10 minutes, their concerted effort put great pressure on the Beccs line and it took some strong defence to keep them out. However, Darts eventually got their deserved reward with a good try by Adam Ferris with 2 minutes to go. Dev XV: Won 57 - 0 Having seen the first side win in a good match it was up to the second side to go out with a determined attitude and do better to put pressure on places, which is exactly what they did. With a few boys playing out of position, it took a couple of minutes for things to settle down. Beccs again proved too strong up front and moved and retained the ball well throughout the game. After 5 minutes Matthew Putner went over for the first try, this was closely followed by another from Luke Edmonds, converted by Oliver Fitzgerald. Beccs continued to move the ball up the pitch at will and got a scrum 10M from the Darts line. In a planned move, Ricky Ingram, playing his first game at No. 8, picked up and burst through for his first try for the club, converted by Fitzgerald. The half was rounded off with a very good back move and with Oliver Fitzgerald coming into the line well he sprinted from half way to score under the posts, which he converted. The second half continued in much the same manner. In the opening minutes Nick Freeman managed to plough his way through a pack of players to break free and with 2 runs from the half way line scored 2 good tries. Oliver Fitzgerald then demonstrated his kicking abilities with 2 fantastic kicks from out wide, he wasn't missing anything. Oliver Robinson, playing on the wing then got into the act and chipping ahead and controlling the ball with 2 more kicks dabbed down for his first try. A strong run by Howard Derham and an off-load to Connor O'Hehir led to him scoring and Oliver Robinson rounded the display off with another try in the corner. All were converted by Fitzgerald who had a rememberable day scoring 24 points in total. Two very good wins to start to the season and a strong all round display by all players means that there is healthy competition for places. Many thanks to Pat at Darts for organising, good luck and see you at the end of the season.