Beckenham Ladies v Hove Ladies

Hove made the journey up the M23 to their hosts Beckenham. The weather had deteriorated from the early morning sunshine to an overcast dull day. The rugby would put a smile on the faces of the supporters though.

Hove kicked to Beckenham who were playing towards the bungalow end of the pitch, Sian Hobday collected the ball and offloaded to Jen Bracken on the burst up the pitch. At the breakdown the ball was spun out to Bree Hill who used her trademark kick to the far side of the pitch. The lineout was lost but the Beckenham ladies were ferocious in their defensive press, so much so that it caused the visitors to knock on and the first scrum of the game.

The backs set up either side of the scrum, confident that possession would be one by the forwards, a strong scrum allowed Izzy “Westie” West to pass out to Lizzy on the switch, a few steps taken and the ball slipped out to Chloe “the Canadian Cyclone” Graves, who turned on the afterburners, glided past the first defender and then wrong footed the full back as she went over majestically for a try to the left of the posts. Bree converted the try to put the hosts 7-0 up.

After the kick off, Bree put boot to ball and Hove mounted an attack before kicking possession to Beth Pickers, Beckenham’s full back. The ball was fed to Emma “Gibbo” Santamaria, then to Chloe offloading to Mallory but she couldn’t hold on to the pass. Hove mounted an attack but were penalised for holding onto the ball when tackled.

Gibbo put in a brace of thundering tackles to put the opponents back and Lizzy Nicholl joined in on the tackle front, unfortunately picking up an injury causing a break in the game.

Beckenham were on the receiving end of too many penalties against them, Hove kicked to the club side of the pitch, the ball was plucked nonchalantly from the air by Emma “EJ” Johnson and she ran forward, the ball was recycled but the resulting kick went straight into touch having been passed back into the 22.

Sian stole the ball again and it fizzed out to Lizzy who had forgotten about her earlier knock and passed to Gibbo out of the tackle. It was as if Gibbo had a twin on the pitch as she seemed to be everywhere in support of her team-mates. A succession of unforced errors let the home team down and Hove were let off the hook for a while. At the scrum Westie fed the ball, then picked up at the back, out to Bree who slipped it out to Chloe who brought the crowd to their feet when she quickly bounced back up, released and collected the ball and went again, and again. Abby Pottier picked up a knock and needed a little time to recover, there’s not much that can keep Abby down.

EJ caught another high ball and drove forward, there was continuity in the attack and the forwards were getting closer to the line, when Jen Bracken adopted the perfect body height about 6 inches from the floor and powered over for her try. 12-0 Bree plonked the ball through the posts to make it 14-0.

It would be remiss not to mention the blindside flanker Destiny who was getting in the big hits and strong runs offloading to Amy Fitz bursting through. The flaming red hair of Sian rose like the phoenix in the lineouts and with her outstretched arms she plucked the ball and held on whilst the pack set up a glorious rolling maul, as they powered towards the line Destiny seized her moment to smuggle the ball over the line and get a well earned try. 19-0.

Hove recovered the ball and put together some good attacking phases, they recycled the ball and an off load that Sonny Bill himself would have been proud of caught the home team out and Hove got their try just on half time, 19-5.

Second Half

Following the kick off Captain Westie set the tone of the tackles by putting in a monstrous hit. Kirsty who had pulled her hamstring early in the match was rested and Bobby Hayward entered the field of play. It wouldn’t be long before she made her mark.

Hove threw a reckless pass which was intercepted by Bobby, who was eventually put into touch, but Hove had strayed offside and Beckenham had the penalty. Bree kicked int the Hove 22 and the lineout was won, Beckenham were patient in attack sucking in the defence then unleashing Bobby on the wing to score out wide. 24-5.

Jen caught the kick off and was powerful in her run forwards. A short while after two scrummaging icons entered the pitch, Elisha Dee and Katie Ballard. The scrum was on halfway and although Hove had the put in, Beckenham launched a phenomenal shove, the ball spilling out of the back of the Hove scrum and was immediately pounced on by Gibbo. Hove managed to get possession and one of their players made the mistake of running into Elisha who is not known on the pitch for her diffidence.

Beckenham regained possession of the ball, Bree whizzing the passing along the back line to Chloe the Canadian Cyclone scorching the turf as she put the hammer down and went over for her second try of the game, the conversion slotted over by Bree 31-5.

Elisha delighted the crowd with an atomising tackle but it’s fair to say that Hove were not lying down, they attacked and knocked on the door for some sustained periods of time but the parsimonious Beckenham defence was not breached. The referee adjudged Beckenham to be offside on a number of occasions and sent Bobby from the pitch for 10 minutes as a team yellow card, it was simply hard luck for Bobby whose contribution to the game was so positive.

Shortly after there was another dominant scrum from Beckenham, followed by a lineout steal by Sian. The forwards pitched up in the opposition 22 and a pod off Bree set up Elisha to sprint over the line, taking 3 players with her to take the score to 36-5, Bree was denied by the post.

Hove chased the kick off but knocked the ball into touch, there was the option of scrum or line, not really an option with the way the pack were playing. There was more entertaining play from the home team, Rebecca “Ginge” Hill returned from injury and was immediately involved in feeding the backs. Lizzy was subject of a high tackle and a quick tap penalty was taken, Bree chipped the defence with a perfect kick which she chased down and snatched herself pressurising the Hove defence, taking the ball so close to the line.

Mallory returned to the front row after Katie picked up an injury, the scrum was 5 metres out when Destiny picked the ball and blasted over the line on the blind side, Bree’s kicking boot was re-charged and the sights were back on. 43-5.

Following the kick off there was another great scrum from Beckenham, Ginge kicked the ball over the defence, Sian went on a sparkling run until the tackle, the ball was recycled quickly and went through the hands to Chloe who dotted the ball down. Final score 48-5.

Forward of the match: Destiny Field

Back of the match: Beth Pickers

Sponsors Player of the match: Emma Santamaria (Gibbo)