Becks miss out in Plate

9:45am Thursday 15th May 2008

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Beckenham 12-31 Tunbridge Wells

THERE was no Kent Plate glory for Beckenham as they went down to Tunbridge Wells in Sunday's final.

This was the third meeting of the two sides this season and for the third time, Wells won with the quality and pace of their backs making the difference.

Add to this the fact they wanted to avenge their big defeat in the final of the competition last year and it made all the difference.

Beckenham started the brightly down the hill and had the first opportunity to put points on the board, but Jack Hewett missed into the wind.

After ferocious defence on their own line, Tunbridge passed the ball across the in-goal area to outside centre Ryan le Roux, who showed he had pace.

His run took him to the halfway line where he found Mav Anderson and Charlie Harding in support.

Wells were clear to the line but were pulled back when a score looked certain for foul play on the covering Julian Rogers.

Shortly later, though, Wells took the lead through second row James Gwinnett.

A 22m drop out was charged down with Gwinnett present to pick up the loose ball and go over in the corner for an unconverted try.

Beckenham then pulled ahead.

Rogers, who had a great game, took a pass from the big prop James Cleverly and the scrum half's pace did the rest and the score under the posts made it easy for Hewett to give Beckenham into the lead.

The final score of the half came from Wells.

Winger Mike Doherty received the scoring pass from Anderson, who fielded a wayward kick which allowed him to run deep into Beckenham territory to give Tunbridge a 12-7 interval advantage.

Wells poured on the pressure down the hill in the second half.

Their first score came from blindside Rob Harrison, who received a scoring pass from another of Wells' speedy backs who had taken a weak kick.

Tunbridge's backs were majestic in broken play and as the players tired, the missed tackles began.

This score was converted by Harding to leave Wells with a comfortable 19-7 lead.

They extended their advantage as they moved down the pitch after a period of Beckenham attacking with a couple of good penalty kicks.

From a lineout in the 22 they moved the ball wide off the top, executed a dummy switch to send the straight running Le Roux in for a converted try.

Beckenham did not give in and camped on the Tunbridge line and opted for five-metre lineouts as penalties were given.

The ball moved eventually to the backs where Hewett chipped in to the corner for winger Craig Hulls to take the ball and dive to score in the corner.

In the final play of the game, Wells turned over Beckenham possession as they committed everyone to attack.

The ball found one of the Wells back row who ran hard to score under the posts and although the conversion was missed, it did not matter.

Tunbridge Wells were deserved winners in what was a great advert for rugby and the commitment and fitness of players who entertained the enthusiastic crowd.

Sam Howard, in his last game as head coach, was honest in assessment.

He said: "It was a great game and they played well and deserved to win, but I thought we made them play.

"There were no easy scores and some of our play was excellent. I'm delighted with the performance of the boys in the heat at the end of a long season."