Another poor first half costs Beckenham against unbeaten Havant

This week Beckenham welcomed Havant to Balmoral, with the visitors looking to carry on their great start to the season, Beckenham, were looking for their elusive first win in what is proving to be a tough start to their league campaign.

Havant drew first blood after just 7 minutes, capitalising on a poor scrum, the ball was won against the head. The Havant 8 picked and carried in to the centre of the park, Havant looked to get the ball wide as early as possible, and a nice offload on the wing gave the ball to the number 11 who finished well in the corner. The extras missed. 0-5. From the kick off, Beckenham worked hard to play in the Havant half with some strong carry’s by Eb Ikedashi and James Cleverly, forcing Havant to give away a silly offside penalty, that Louis Richards slotted with ease closing the gap to 3-5.

It didn’t take long for Havant to fire back however, with some great phase play, Havant’s man of the match, their number 2, found his way over the try line. The 10 added the extras 3-12. From the kick off both teams traded some phase play, a chip over the top from KK Orelaja in the Havant half saw the Havant 15 gather and get tackled, Graham Murray the second man into the breakdown, managed to get hands on ball and force a turnover penalty. The job was made easier for Louis Richards as the referee marched it 10m closer to the posts for backchat from Havant, and Richards happily slotted taking the score to 6-12.

However similarly to after the last penalty, Havant bounced back quickly to get there 3rd try from a lovely chip and gather. A dink over the top of the Beckenham defence by the 15, created a 2 on 1, and the 15 popped off to the supporting runner who went in untouched under the posts. 6-19 the score.

Trading phases, and some heavy hits forced numerous handling errors, Beckenham took advantage of a resulting scrum to force a penalty, with the Havant 3 receiving a yellow card for his angle at the scrum and to his surprise had the penalty moved a further 10m up the pitch after disagreeing with the ref.

With Havant down to 14 men Beckenham looked to capitalise on the numerical advantage. To their credit Havant scrambled well on their 5m line, however Beckenham pressure told and saw them concede a penalty at the breakdown. Beckenham with the man advantage in the pack chose to take the scrum.

Having got the initial drive, the hook from Liam Markey bounced off a leg in the row and popped out the back of the scrum and the Havant open side was quick to pounce of the loose ball. Havant were then quick to clear their line with the 10 clearing well. The resulting lineout, which was just outside the Beckenham 22 line out was overthrown by Beckenham. The Havant Hooker was quick to read the overthrow and gathered, putting Beckenham on the back foot and the Havant pack used the phases well to suck in the blue and gold defence, with the ball eventually being sent out wide, allowing the winger to go over in the corner to secure the try bonus point. Conversion missed from out wide, the score 6-24.

With minutes remaining in the half, Havant managed to slice open the Beckenham defence with a snipe from the 9. With Beckenham scrambling to cover, an offload to the 10 who wrong footed the Beckenham defence, managed to offload to the 12 to make his way over for the 5th try. The 10 added the extras, leaving the score at halftime 6-31 to Havant.

After some problem solving in the changing room, Beckenham returned to the pitch, hellbent on making sure they weren’t to be disgraced on their own doorstep. The boys were able to draw confidence from last week’s second half against Horsham, having found themselves in a similar position at half time.

Beckenham upped the ante from the go in the second half and scoring after only 3 mins, a strong carry from George Hixon provided Craig Thomson quick ball who sniped under the posts to score. Richards added the extras 13-31. A visible confidence boost to the boys! Beckenham seeming to have woken up, upped the tempo again. Following some turnovers for both teams, Beckenham won a penalty and kicked up field, the resulting line out was won cleanly, providing Eb Ikedashi the perfect platform to crash up the middle. Breaking through the Havant defence, the second galloped 50 meters only to get dragged down just short of the line by the covering blue and white defence. Some quick rucking released Craig Thomson once more, breaking free for a clear run in under the posts. However, one of Craig’s more regrettable movements on a rugby pitch ensued, dropping the ball over the line, Havant clearing the spilled ball.

Shortly after, a scrappy line-out from Havant gave Beckenham a chance to smother a rolling maul forcing the turnover, from the resultant scrum, Louis Richards sold his opposite number for pocket change and stepped inside offloading to James Curr who finished under the posts, place the ball down in emphatic fashion. Richards added the extras 20-31. Despite Beckenham’s dominance in the second half, Havant, not to be written off, showed their class with some quality counter attacks and managed another score out wide, the 10 missing the extras. 20-36.

Shortly after Havant we’re reduced to 14 men again, this time Beckenham took their opportunity and from tight phase play after the line-out James Curr linked up well with Craig Thomson dragging the maul defence wide only to pop the ball back inside to Curr who was never going to be stopped from 5m out. Richards adding the extras. 27-36.

Havant, having spent the majority of the second half defending, were starting to tire. However always looking dangerous in attack, the away side managed to force their way into the Beckenham 22 and over the try line, only for the try to be ruled out by the referee for double movement. Havant feeling aggrieved, complained to the referee. Beckenham happily taking the extra 10 awarded by the ref. With Beckenham having dominated the second half, Havant were shaken, having been 31 -6 up and tempers were starting to fray. Reegan Tarbie was next to cross the whitewash for the home side, only for the ref to call it back for a head injury. A scuffle then ensued in the dead ball area and to everyone’s amazement resulted in two straight reds for Beckenham hooker Liam Markey and the Havant 10, with a penalty awarded to Beckenham. Chasing the game, the blue and gold opted for the tap and go, an initial strong carry put Havant on the back foot and gave the momentum required for James Blackmore to crash over for Beckenham’s bonus point try. With Louis Richards adding the 2 point to bring Beckenham within 2. 34-36.

With the seconds counting down to full time, Havant were in possession in the Beckenham half. Desperate to get the ball back, a moment of madness in defence saw Beckenham give away a silly penalty at the breakdown, that gave Havant the opportunity to increase the lead to 34-39, there was however enough time for the restart. Beckenham raced to the halfway line and kicked off, but it wasn’t to be, although Hans Laud-Anderson got his hands to the ball, it was knocked on.

The ref blew the full time whistle, much to the relief of Havant who had clung on to the win. Credit must be given to the away side however who looked very dangerous in attack and will undoubtedly be in the mix for promotion come the end of the season. We look forward to our visit down to Hook Lane just after Christmas!

Next week we continue our quest for our first win in London 1, as we visit fellow promoted side KCS Old Boys. With points on the board, the boys and the coaches will be looking to carry this momentum forward and gain the W.

Match report by Graham Murray #3