Sunday 13th January 2008 Beccehamian 20 - 0 Dartfordians Looking to maintain thier winning streak, Beccehamians U14s came up against the last team to beat them outside of a tournament - and a heavy defeat at that! We expected a tight, hard fought game, and that is exactly what we got. It was a good win but a frustrating one in that we did enough to put the result beyond doubt, long before we ran in two late tries. Beccs started strongly, playing up the hill with a strong wind blowing across the pitch. We had much of the territory and possession in the first 15 minutes but struggled to exert ourselves against a strong, well drilled pack and a set of backs that came up quickly and tackled well. This seemed to induce a sort of mild panic in some of the Beccs players who uncharacteristicly threw out too much loose ball. We also struggled against a strong front row who, legally or otherwise, had the upper hand over us and won one or two against the head. If our forwards coach had any hair he would have been pulling it out. All credit to Jack Murtagh, Jack Gilgunn and Eddie Varona for keeping their discipline. Although we lost some ball that we should have kept, some tenacious tackling always ensured that we won it back quickly and we were able to keep the pressure on. Eventually the hard work paid off and Paul Broadhurst, who had a strong game at scrum half, skipped away from the base of a ruck and managed to twist his way over the line. A few minutes later, he did the same again but the referee was unsighted and did not see him clearly touch down on the line. Some good ball went to waste, despite the efforts of the forwards and the half backs, as our usually reliable centre pairing failed to exploit the overlaps that could have put the wingers away. So despite having had most of the play, we turned round only 5-0 up. The forwards got into their stride quickly and soon had Darts back on their own line. Nerves were settled when James Chatten rounded off some good work by the back row to hit the ball at speed and crash over. There then followed another period of frustration as Beccs wasted more good ball before Charlie Phair and Jack Robertson redeemed themselves by scoring a trademark try each; Charlie powering through about five tackles and Jack running round everyone, including most of his backline! The wind proved too much for Jack but, having been stuffed last year, we gladly settled for an emphatic 20-0 win. The foundation of the win was a good all round forward effort and some excellent defence. A hard game in which Darts refused to lie down. Well done to both sides. Robbie