Beckenham 3rd XV 10 - 48 Sidcup 3rd XV

1st VS 2nd place clash gives Sidcup 3rd XV daylight at the top... By James ("JT" / the better) Thomas

Beckenham away. Probably the most important game of our season so far, as Beckenham sat above us by one point with us having a game in hand. Challenge accepted.

After a fairly standard warm up of the backs kicking the ball about and the forwards lifting each other and then dropping the ball, we made our way back inside for Dunster and Woody to tell us how good we are and how good the warm was up, however the praises soon stopped as Anton stepped up to inform us that the warm was in-fact a pile of dog shit, we were all shit and everything was shit. Inspirational...

We opted to receive the kick off, a great take and short carry brings up back to the half way, the ball is quickly recycled and fizzed out to the backs where some fancy moves take place resulting in a line break by someone, then a superb offload out of contact keeps us on the move to Beckenham’s 22, however our All Blacks flare quickly runs out and we drop the ball.
Scrum to Beckenham.

Beckenham kick to touch but the 10 narrowly misses the touch line and leaves it in the middle of the park, we run it from half way, quickly making ground and get deep into their half. The ball is recycled out to Max, who throws the dummy and gets in behind the line, Wilford receives the pass on the support and gets the try. Seb steps up for the kick, misses. 0-5

After receiving the ball from the kick off, the forwards show off their almighty strength and crash the ball back up towards their half. Some questionable hands in the ruck from Beckenham gives up a penalty in front of the post. So of course we go for the corner. Lineout to Sidcup on the 5, show time. The forwards opt to keep the ball in and drive over the line, instead they decide to walk to the far touch line and end up somewhere in the middle of the park, with some great defence from Beckenham for a number of phases it looks like we are in for a long day but superman Anton spots the hole in between 3 defenders and crashes over the line. Sebs time to shine, misses.
0-10

We struggle to make our way out of our half from the restart, as Glen decides to kick the ball into touch from an offside position (clever) awarding them a penalty. They go for touch, line out Beckenham on the 22. This is the first time our (best in the league) defence is tested so the centres go for a high tackle (not so best in the league) and give them a chance in front of the posts.
3-10

Again some great lines and strong carries from Wilfred, Osborne & Anton sees us marching into their half, causing mass panic and once again giving us a penalty from the ruck. We kick for corner, set up the maul, which is swiftly collapsed, JT steps up with a tremendous carry and knocks at least 16 players over the line.
Seb actually gets this one.
3-17

Beckenham restart, with some more strong running we get back to the half way line, max receives the ball and tips on to Anton, boom, he is through, somehow he makes it 20meters before he is caught but passes to Osborne who is surrounded by 3 defenders (we had 3 on 0 to your left mate) a great clearance gives fozzy quick ball and with quick reactions to match he picks and gos getting the 5 points. Seb misses
3-22

Beckenham finally get a bit of ball and try to show us how it’s done but Tom O’neill puts in a massive shot causing the bill to spill out, Max tidies up and with some sublime passing we get the ball the Wilford who runs past everyone, again, who goes under the post. Sebs kick is good.
3-29

Max sells a fabulous dummy and once again the entire back line, along with most of our back line falls for it, Max is away and ends up on their 5m line but is brought down short, nice offload out of contact but it results in a knock on. Beckenham clear, line out to Sidcup on the 22. The long ball to Harry at the back is executed perfectly who goes off of the top to JT, he scoots around fixing the 10, a little pop to Joel the pain train Leighton sees him break through 3 men, and goes in under the posts. Beautiful rugby. Kick is good.
3-36

HT

Strong restart from Seb sees Beckenham deep in their half, the white wall is in full force and they can’t seem to generate quick ball which leads to a knock on. Max gets the ball and the pace from Barwick is sensational which gets us right up to the try line. A couple of picks gets us nowhere, so Glen steps up pushing JT out of the way to go over on his own. Fair play. Sebs converts.
3-43

Beckenham start to wake up a little in this half and catch the forwards sleeping, resulting in a good 40 metre maul. Embarrassing. They spin it out wide for the fast kids but Teddy the Titan decides to kill him instead, which ends up with a knock on. Great chop. Seb clears from the try line.

Half way through the half you can see the concentration levels from Sidcup had dropped as we give away another penalty for being offside. Beckenham kick for the corner and go for the drive over the line, but the big boys hold them up.

Even lazier tackling and bad discipline was giving Beckenham plenty of opportunities, they go wide from a scrum and break the line. Kick is good.
10-43

After a stern telling off we decided to play for the last 5 and that we had to score again. A lovely restart from Seb puts Beckenham back under pressure, we steadily work up the pitch, Anton is on the blind side and throws such a good dummy that he dummies himself and passes to Beckenham, who clear and put the ball back in our half, our lineout. Seb receives the ball from JT and puts it up high, a strong chase with James Head or Tails puts him under pressure, so they decide to pick him up and carry him back 40 metres. Bless. The ball comes out to the backs, Tom O’neill puts in some lovely footwork and puts Seb in out wide. Who misses, again.
10-48
FT

A very, very strong first half performance from Sidcup, followed by a more relaxed approach in the second half. But, a win is a win and we showed them why we are top of the league. Onto the next one. YAMS.

MOM: Max Drysdale....again