BECKENHAM 1XV 30 v 31 TWRFC 1XV
Having started pre-season training back in the last week of June and played 3 practice games leading up to the league season this was the moment of truth as Wells faced opposition with the first league points of the season at stake in the newly formed larger London 1 South RFU Championships league.
Wells with 3 debutants in the side in James Warren at full back, Tom Bugge on the wing and later at scrum half and with Dane Hurley on the bench, were close to full strength with only Jon McMahon, Rob Cockerton Ross Fleming, Jonte Vander Meule and Chris Veall unavailable or injured.
Wells got off to the better start and should have scored within 30 seconds down the left with wing Steve Jones just being forced into touch. The size of the enormous Beckenham front row indicated a difficult time for Wells in the tight , however, and it was clear with the stiff breeze in the visitors favour that they would have to build a reasonable cushion if they were to secure the points.
Beckenham were first on the score sheet as the referee watched by 16 eager assessors awarded the first penalty which was comfortably kicked by fullback Pete Isaac 3-0.
Wells continued to enjoy the best of the broken play with fly half Rogers prompting and Turagaiviu and Doherty going for the gaps but it took until the 17th minute when scrum half Mark Wilson caught Beckenham with a strong tackle and Sitiveni Turagaiviu won the race to score the try with James Warren converting 3-7, to get points on the board.
There then followed an even 16 minute period where Beckenham adopted the driving game and Wells worked at gaining greater co-ordination in the backs. Again it was Wells who broke the deadlock as Warren kicked a penalty on 33 mins for Beckenham not rolling away and this score then brought a further flurry of points as Warren picked up his second penalty on 38 mins 3-13 and then Pete Binham finished off a great drive by the Wells pack on the stroke of halftime with Warren again converting to give Wells a healthy lead of 3-20 at the break.
Wells were well aware that they would have to start the second half well as they sought to counter the wind and the increasing dominance of the Beckenham pack in the tight.
Sadly within minutes of the restart Wells were down a man as Mike Doherty received a yellow card for not rolling away from the tackle and Wells proceeded to concede 12 points between the 46th and 52nd minutes to two tries , one from a forward rush and one from a pushover, whilst they were down to 14 men.
Despite Doherty’s return a resurgent Beckenham started to work the corners in the breeze and rolled over from a line out on 63 minutes to take the lead with a converted try 20-22.
Wells supporters started to reach for last seasons supply of valium as the last 15 minutes of the game loomed and the lead started to see-saw with every minute. Wells coach Paul Hathaway moved Tom Bugge to scrum-half, brought Matt Murtagh in on the wing and Dane Hurley into the back row and this immediately brought dividends as Murtagh charged up the right touchline as Hurley started and linked the move to put skipper James Gwinnett crashing over for the try but Warren missed his kick to leave the score at 22-25 on 65 mins.
A minute later and Beckenham had tied the score with a penalty 25-25, but Matt Murtagh put Wells back in the lead with a penalty of his own on 73 mins. 25-28.
Beckenham , however, were being fired up by their new coach Dan Leek who was playing hooker and his outstanding individual try at the left corner although not converted restored the home team advantage 30-28.
With injury time ticking down Wells maneouvred fly half Ollie Rogers into position 35 metres out and he made no mistake by calmly slotting a drop goal to make up for his narrow miss from 47 metres in the first half.
With Rogers appearing to be the hero of the day there was one more drama to unfold as with the seconds almost run out and in the 10th minute of injury time Beckenham fly half James Perry had the chance to seize the hero’s mantle from Rogers. After an agonizing wait for an injury and from only 27 metres out and five metres to the right of the posts the pressure was too much and he sent the kick wide for Wells to secure the first two points of the campaign away from home. 1 down and 25 league games to play!
Coach Hathaway welcomed the points and the Wells spirit but pointed out to the squad that there was much to do to achieve good levels of line out and scrummaging consistency before Wells meet Gravesend at home at St Marks at 3 00pm this Saturday.
For more pictures of this and other games visit Bruce Elliott's site HERE