Sudbury 24, Beccles 15

RUGBY: Beccles lost their crunch encounter against Sudbury to put them back in to the relegation zone.

They conceded three first-half tries and lost the game by 24-15.

Beccles had a strong squad to choose from. In the forwards only Maeer was missing so Hinsley replaced him in the starting line up.

The back Rayner failed a late fitness test so veteran Vipond had to be pulled out of the pre-match lunch to make up numbers on the bench.

The game was tight to begin with but it was Sudbury who opened the scoring. They capitalised on some weak Beccles tackling to score. They soon followed it up with another try out wide.

Beccles had Sale sin-binned and Sudbury took advantage of the extra man to run in another try. As the half came to a close Beccles began to put some pressure on the Sudbury line but some good defence kept them out. The half-time score was 19-0.

Beccles kept up the pressure in the second half. They kept Sudbury deep in their own half. After a number of drives at the line Sale dummied the defence and sniped over for a try. Wade added the conversion then a penalty to reduce the deficit.

Beccles got themselves back in to the Sudbury half with a strong run by Musker McIntyre man of the match Davey-Durak. Beccles kept the pressure up and skipper Lake powered his way over for a try. Beccles were within a score now but as they pushed for the win Sudbury were able to break out of a defence. They added a final try to seal their victory by 24 to 15.

The battle for survival is now out of the hands of Beccles. They need to win their final game against Saffron Walden in two weeks’ time and hope that the two teams above them lose.

Beccles II 5, Norwich Medics 10

BECCLES II went into the match knowing they needed to win if they were to have any chance of the league title.

Beccles started the match with good intent, immediately putting the opposition on the back foot. The forwards dominated in the loose and the line-out, giving the backs good ball.

Medics managed to clear their lines only as far as Long, who danced his way through the defence of the opposition from his own half to finish in the corner. The rest of the half continued in the same way; however the Medics remained strong in defence and managed to convert a penalty on the stroke of half-time.

Beccles continued to dominate possession in the match with Hadridge feeding the forwards well to keep forward momentum. Hoffman also looked dangerous when coming off his wing throughout the game.

Man-of-the-match Pitts led from the front and stole the ball countless times in the loose. From a breakdown the ball was turned over and the Medics fed the ball wide, a mis-tackle from Beccles allowed the winger to break away and score under the posts which was to prove a pivotal point in the match. Beccles tried to come back but could never quite break through.

The final score was 10-5 to the away side; however, Beccles will take great confidence coming away from the game as it proved to be the performance of the season despite th e result.

n Beccles U14 Girls represented North Suffolk in the London North Region Schools Finals. A report will be included in next week’s issue.