Beckenham 52 Heathfield 3
Beckenham comfortably beat the injury-stricken Heathfield by eight tries to nil on a wet, miserable day. The home pack, especially their beefy front row, had too much weight for the smaller visitors.
Handling was difficult in the wet so there were multiple knock-ons: nonetheless Beckenham did produce some good handling and passing out of the tackle in spite of the conditions.
There was an early indication of how the game would go when Beckenham drove on from a lineout and although often going sideways they retained control to work over for their first try. Heathfield immediately replied with a Harry Reilly penalty but that was to be their only mark on the scoreboard (7-3).
In spite of the difference in size of the two front rows the scrummage was fairly even and in fact the home tight head was twice penalised for illegal scrummaging, being warned that further infringement would result in a card. Reece Webb in particular along with Olly Stables and veteran Butch Poole can all take credit for their performance in that phase.
While Beckenham had more possession the visiting defence was doing an excellent job with effective tackling right across the pitch. With fifteen minutes left in the half Beckenham collected their second try (apologies for the lack of detail but the notebook is sodden and most of the writing blurred).
Jack Koops now replaced Ethan Walker although he returned later both in the backs and then in the back row.
Heathfield now had their best period of the game building some good phases and with Shamus Smith in particular making excellent yards through heavy traffic. The promising attack was ended by an interception near the home try line and Beckenham duly surged down to the other end.
The game was effectively killed as a contest in the last few minutes of the half by three more Beckenham tries with their use of the maul being a key component (33-3).
Some Heathfield players felt that they were being prevented from defending against the maul by the referee’s interpretation in this area: they were being adjudged offside when the maul was being wheeled by Beckenham.
Dan Bird and James Woodroofe also came off the bench for their first appearances at this level although Bird was soon binned for some malpractice in a maul.
Beckenham collected three more tries during the second half as both coaches made multiple substitutions and changes. Heathfield had their moments but the outcome was clear.
Head Coach Dave Cook was pleased with the commitment shown by the whole squad on a difficult day with particular mention of the spirited tackling by all.
Heathfield will welcome the week off which will allow some of the absentees to recover from injury before the next game at home against Horsham on 20th October at 3.00pm.