Beckenham kicked off towards the Bungalow end and Bree placed the ball with pinpoint accuracy between the defenders, bouncing it beautifully into touch. Reading threw into the lineout and Beckenham pressed hard, Destiny-Jordan Field, Emma “Gibbo” Santamaria and Sian Hobday set the pace with aggressive defence.

The ball was recycled quickly, the backs kept up the pace and Bree Hill passed to Lizzy Nicholl, a quick pass to Chloe “the Cyclone” Graves flying through a gap in the defence to open the score , 5-0. Bree slotted over the conversion 7-0 after 6 minutes.

Sophia “Phia” Macauley-Clave caught the kick off, Gibbo put in another strong run, the ball worked back to Bree who unleashed the howitzer of a kick to provide the home side with a throw in from the 50-22. Sian collected the ball at the top of the lineout, directing it down to Ginge, a slick pass to Bree and a switch to Lizzy crashing over the gain-line, however the ball was lost to the defending side.

Beckenham appeared to have had a dominant scrum but were penalised, Reading kicked deep into the Beckenham 22, put a few phases together and scored their points for the game. 7-5 (19 minutes)

Reading received the kick off but were penalised when Lizzy jackled for the ball, she took the quick tap and made good yards into the Reading 22 but was penalised for holding on.

Emma “E-J” Johnson took a magnificent catch from the kick and made good ground, Reading were penalised and the home team relied on the trusty boot of Bree to pin their opponents deep into their half. Phia hit the target in the lineout like a champion darts player hitting the bullseye. The ball sped along the backline when possession was relinquished allowing Reading some breathing space, the game had become a little scrappy, players trying to force things rather than trust their systems.

Reading had a lineout, Gibbo pressured and Destiny cleared out the opposition causing a knock on and the feed to the scrum for the home team. One has to mention Aimee Finn playing at tight head, a player who is enjoying her first season in the front row and she has taken to the “dark arts” like a fish to water, no doubt picking up advice from the seasoned campaigners Mallory Bott at loosehead and Phia hooking.

Beckenham won their scrum and Gibbo burst through the defence running straight and hard, devouring the metres making a good 40 metres in the attack before sliding in the mud just outside the Reading 22. The referee awarded the put-in to the visitors, the pack sparked into life and put in a gargantuan shove to win the ball against the head, a pick and go and Gibbo darted over to finish the move she had started. 12-5 ten minutes of the half to go.

E-J and Lizzy combined at the restart to get the home team up to halfway, Bree used her famed boot to launch the ball into the Reading half, one of their players fumbled the ball and it went into touch. The pace of the game increased, the ball was back into the Aussie fly half and out to Chloe, having to juggle the ball whilst running at full pelt, she managed to gather possession and sprint over for her second try of he match, which was dutifully converted by Bree. 19-5. (34 minutes into the first half.)

The second row partnership of Amy Hooton and Abby Pottier seized the kick off and fed E-J on the wing, who was eventually caught, the quickly recycled ball was passed to the Cyclone again and she scored yet another powerful try, Bree converted making it 26-5 with 3 minutes left in the half.

Just before the end of the half, Bree slotted a kick into the Reading half, E-J chased it down and gathered possession, she was away, supported by Chloe, E-J threw the pass unselfishly but it didn’t quite go to hand, the crowd had been willing E-J to put the pedal down and go for it herself, we are sure that she would have made it, but it was not to be. Half-time.

The second half got under way, the ball collected by Aimee “Sharkey” Finn, powering forward until eventually brought down, the ball recycled quickly, a slick move from the backs and Chloe was heading towards the posts again, she was tackled but presented the ball perfectly for the supporting Geo, whose turbo charged boots carried her over the line under the posts. Bree converted and the score was 33-5 after 2 minutes of the second half.

Lizzy caught the restart, set off when she was flipped in the tackle and the visitors penalised. The penalty was kicked into the Reading half between the 10 metre and 22 metre lines, the forwards executed a catch and drive, Sian broke blind on the burst, Izzy “Westie” West in support, fed the ball to Davinia “Dav” Catlin, a one person wrecking ball, full of power, guile and determination with every run, she made great strides into the defence, before feeding Westie for her try out wide, 38-5.

Dav collected the kick off and in true style punched well above her weight, wreaking havoc and breaking through defences, only to be subject of a high tackle. Shortly afterwards the backs glided majestically down the pitch, Geo changing direction avoiding tackles for fun before she offloaded to the route one of Dav, earning her a well deserved try. 43-5.

Shortly after the kick off, Reading were awarded a penalty, kicking was not an option and the crash ball was taken at pace by the Reading player but Sharkey had her chiropractor head on, meeting fire with fire and putting the ball carrier back from whence she came.

There followed an interlude whilst a Reading player was receiving treatment, the magic sponge did it’s job and she was able to resume. Olivia Haywood took over from Destiny who had had a magnificent game on the blindside.

Beckenham were awarded a penalty, Bree kicked for position and at the resulting lineout, Dav hit the spot with the throw in, the ball was passed off the top of the lineout and along the backs to Geo, ripping up the right-hand side of the pitch, the pace of a sprinter and the agility of a ballerina, she went over for another try, converted by Bree. 50-5, 17 minutes into the second half.

There were some great pieces of skill from Sian taking the ball at pace, Gibbo stealing in the lineout and the whole forward pack who stole the ball on their 10 metre line, slipping it out to Lizzy who scanned the pitch in front, reminiscent of the Terminator, spotting a gap, selling a dummy on the halfway and breaking through the defensive line, with E-J in support just the full back to confuse, running hard, Lizzy sold another dummy which was bought by the last line of defence, credit also to E-J for her support, Lizzy ran for the line, and touched down to the left of the left hand post, the chaser tripped on her and landed on top briefly winding the Beckenham centre unintentionally. No surprise that Bree converted, stretching the score the 57-5 with 5 minutes left to play.

Shortly after the kick off, E-J in possession flew up to halfway, setting up recyclable ball, allowing quick possession along to Geo for the final try of the match, converted by Bree taking the final score to 64-5.

Back of the match – Bree Hill & Emma Johnson

Forward of the match - Abby Pottier