Tonbridge Juddians ended Beckenham’s unbeaten start to the season with a display of clinical finishing that kept the large crowd entertained at Balmoral Avenue and maintained their position at the top of the league with a bonus point victory.

The visitors opened the scoring within the first five minutes as Lee Campion was brought in off a set piece play deep in his own half and weaved his way through to score under the posts. Beckenham’s response was immediate; straight from the kick off, skipper Luke Aylward put in a big hit and turned over possession and several quick phases later Luke Harding went over giving Ted Mahutariki and easy conversion to level the scores.

The visitors responded quickly, good first phase ball was spread wide to Johnny Farmer who used his pace to beat the cover defence and score under the posts. The home side almost did the same soon after the kick off and seemed certain to score after a fine break by Pete Thorne, but the final pass went astray and quick hands by the visitors created the counter attacking opportunity for Campion to score under the posts and leave the score at 7 to 21.

Beckenham were awarded a penalty after a fine break by Alex Jones and Ted Mahutariki duly kicked the three points but the visitors scored another converted try as Farmer ghosted through and left Beckenham trailing by 18 points.

But the home side rallied hard as their opponents received their second yellow card of the day, a Mahutariki penalty reduced the deficit again and a fine catch and drive from a lineout gave Tom Hixon the chance to score out wide, Mahutariki’s touchline conversion reducing the deficit to eight points as the half time whistle went with the visitors leading by 20 to 28.

Beckenham, enjoyed long period of possession in the second half but spurned several good opportunities to score as the visitors defence held good. Tonbridge Juddians notched two penalties within 15 minutes of the restart which meant that Beckenham had to chase the game. Despite a yellow and then a red card, the visitors took advantage of every Beckenham mistake to run in three unanswered tries with a display of slick handling and good running lines, with Campion and Farmer completing their hat-tricks.

Despite some good attacking positions Beckenham could not get through and the final score stood at 20 to 53.

A decent performance by the home side who were thought a lesson in how to take their chances by a well drilled and powerful side that despite their superiority were a little flattered by the scoreboard.