BECKENHAM Bears were knocked out of the London Challenge Cup at the first round stage after going down 46-12 at home to South West London Chargers at Copers Cope Road on Saturday.

The Chargers were fast out of the blocks with three tries in the opening 12 minutes, two from Tala Petelo and one from Rob McLean.

Two more tries on 19 minutes and 31 minutes through Dan Williams and Dave Wojciecitowicz, along with five conversions from Rob Plumbridge, saw the away side establish a commanding 30-point lead.

However, Bears battled back at the end of the half and good attacking pressure paid off when James Smith bundled through a gap in the defensive line off a pass from dummy half.

Danny O'Rourke added the extras for a half-time score of 6-30.

An early second-half try from McLean promised more of the same for the Chargers but Beckenham hung in there.

A wrongly-disallowed disallowed try spurred them on and the Bears grabbed a try on 56 minutes after a great line run by captain Paul Hyder.

Lee McCarthy converted the try to make it 12-36.

But in the final 10 minutes Premier-level experience told as the away side ran in two tries, one of which was coverted.

All in all, this was a difficult day for the Bears but an encouraging one, as improvement was shown across the board.

The Bears’ next home game is against Newham Dockers on June 15 at 2.30pm.

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