This week saw the Beckenham Ladies travel to Sutton & Epsom, this is the first time these two teams had met and Beckenham were determined to come away with a victory.

From the start Beckenham gave their all and camped out in the home ‘22’ for long parts of the opening period. It was down to a strong Sutton and Epsom defence and a few unforced errors by Beckenham that meant the visitors could not convert the pressure into points. Sutton and Epsom did manage to get out of their own half on a few occasions but the Beckenham defence was immense and they turned this straight back into attack with the likes of Kat Gooding and Lotte Doyle stealing the ball from contact and running great lines to eat back the lost ground.

Each time Beckenham would fight back stronger and stronger. Lucy Hooton made a dash for the line only to be let down by loose footwear in the contact. Becca Guild made a blindside run from the back of a ruck and placed the ball over the line only to be let down by her own vision as the line she went over was the opponents ‘22’. Although Beckenham dominated the first half the score at the break was 0-0.

Second half and the true spirit of Beckenham shone through. Godding as ever made some brilliant crashing runs and a few of the home players went flying, centre Helen Harris, ran some blinding lines breaking tackles and hitting gaps, but it didn’t stop there, in defence the combined talents of all players shone through and the hosts struggled to keep hold of the ball. Hard tackling from Harris, Harri Bold and Alex Doyle caused the spectators to recoil and cheer at the same time. Beckenham were unlucky when a decision went against them and the home side took full advantage with a well taken penalty to take a three point lead. However Beckenham wanted it more. Heads up rugby followed with ground being made by the pack and strong runs by the backs eating up the Sutton and Epsom territory. Finally after a grueling sixty two minutes of rugby, Beckenham got the breakthrough. Scrum down deep in the host’s half gave Godding at number 8 the chance to pick up and go blind. Followed by the rest of the pack, a ruck formed just before the line, a quick look from scrum half Guild and a shout by skipper and fly half Bold, the ball was shot off from Guild to Bold, dummy runs from centres Lucy Hooton and Helen Harris to split the defense and all was left was for full back Lucy Checksfield to glide through under the posts for the try. Bold converted to make it 3-7 to the visitors.

From the restart Sutton and Epsom hit a higher gear and charged for the line. But for Beckenham 2nd place was not an option. Seven attempts for the line, seven tackles and seven rucks later the referee blew up for a scrum on the ‘5’ to the home side. “Last play of the game” were the words said. Three scrums later and the ball comes out the back of the scrum to the fly half, Beckenham back line steam up and force the error as the ball is fumbled.

The referee sounded the final whistle and Beckenham were victorious with the final score at 3 to 7. The ladies played with pride and passion for their team mates and for the club they represent. A well deserved win against a determined and useful Sutton and Epson side which keeps the visitors top of the league.

Forward of the match went to Kat Gooding Back of the match went to Lucy Hooton Mare of the match to Becca Guild for her ‘try’