Beccles 35-13 Southwold
26th April 2014
Match Report written by Anthony Bohncke

The annual Pony Moore fixture between Beccles and Southwold took place this past Saturday. Southwold were keen to repeat the result of last year with a another win, but this year the match was in Beccles, so the team knew how hard a game it would.

The first half was a close contest with both teams having good chances to score. Southwold were first to get points on the board through a penalty converted by Chippy Middleditch, 3-0 Southwold. Beccles came back though with a penalty of their own in the following few phases, the penalty was taken just inside the Southwold half, so the team knew they mustn’t give penalties away easily now because they would be punished, 3-3.

From these points the Beccles began to pick the tempo and played the game at a fast pace. But the Southwold defence held firm, with everyone putting tackles and their bodies on the line. In the forwards Adam Smith was leading his pack forward, the back row of Sam Webb, Darren Fisher and Jonny Stephenson were also making good tackles to stop the Beccles momentum. In the Backs the centre partnership of Pete Holmes and Rob Owles were also working hard together to make tackles and carry the ball forward.

As the first half went on Beccles were still the team with majority of the possession and one well worked lineout and backs move enabled them to move the ball quickly in the backs and their winger was able to score in the corner, 8-3 to Beccles.

Although Beccles had scored it was Southwold who reacted quicker and were looking for a response immediately, Elliot MacDaniel was able to snip up the blind side and put clever little kicks in to get the Beccles team on the back foot.

With momentum with Southwold they were able to exploit the Beccles forwards at the lineout just before half time. A well worked line out move allowed Southwold to drive the Beccles team backwards, before James Hall picked up the ball to drive over and score. 8-8 at half time.

Southwold knew they had worked hard to keep in touch, but they knew they had to keep working in the second half. The second half mainly belonged to Beccles who were able to play good rugby and take the game to Southwold. They were able to score a number of tries using their forward pack and their driving maul as well as some quick moves in the backs to score tries.

As the game came to an end, Southwold were able to score one more with Jonny Stephenson running in to score, but Beccles had already scored a number of tries to win.

This concludes Southwold’s season, and time for a well-earned rest. The team have done terrific since the turn of the year, and the mood throughout the squad is a positive one. Southwold will now have a month off before pre-season starts again in late June.