Basildon 5, Beccles 17BECCLES were victorious in a tricky away game at Basildon. They took a young team away with them and won the game by 17-5.Beccles had Payne, Paul Wilson and Hadridge unable to travel.

Basildon 5, Beccles 17

BECCLES were victorious in a tricky away game at Basildon.

They took a young team away with them and won the game by 17-5.

Beccles had Payne, Paul Wilson and Hadridge unable to travel. This gave starts to Calver, King and Scotchner. Veasy-Lark came in on the wing with Hoffman moving to the bench.

The main pitch at Basildon had failed to thaw out from an overnight freeze and the match was switched just before kick-off to a pitch which was in better condition.

Basildon started the game well and had Beccles under pressure early on. The Beccles defence held out due to some good tackling, notably by Veasy-Lark on the wing.

As Beccles began to get the bus trip out of their legs they started to come in to the game. Rowney was unlucky not to open the scoring when he chipped over the top, hacked on the loose ball and touched down. Unfortunately, the referee adjudged him to have knocked the ball on.

This was soon put right. A weak kick out of defence was collected by Rowney and he cut though the defence to score out wide. Wade added a good conversion to further stretch the lead.

Beccles created a few difficult penalty opportunities before half time but Wade could not find his range and the half-time score was 7-0.

Basildon started to push hard in the second half but the Beccles back row were in charge of the game.

Hinsley and Geyser were both putting in big tackles and Musker McIntyre man-of-the-match Rix was stealing ball and putting in strong runs all over the pitch.

Basildon did get on the score sheet. They kicked the ball through which bounced between the two Beccles defenders and the winger was able to collect to score in the corner.

Beccles had to up their game and were soon back in control with another try. The ball was driven close to the line by the forwards. The ball was fed out to Rowney who ran around the Basildon defence and then under the posts to score. Wade added the simple conversion.

Beccles then closed the game down. Wade extended their lead with a penalty. This gave a final score of 17-5.