Beckenham 42 v 3 Old Mid-Whitgiftians

Rugby Union London 2 South League

BECKENHAM put three consecutive league defeats behind them with a comprehensive win over their visitors from Croydon, writes Neil Millan.

Both sides were very different from those who played in October with Mids featuring ex-Beckenham stand-off James Butterworth at full-back.

But in the end Beckenham showed their greater strength in depth as they dominated the game with commanding forward play and hard-running and creative three-quarter play.

Beckenham's stand-off Pat Wright opened the scoring early in the game with a well-struck penalty after Mids were caught offside.

Inside centre Brendan Moore then scored the game's first try following incisive running from the three-quarters.

The try was converted by Wright who would finish the game with four conversions and three penalties for a personal points tally of 17.

Beckenham's next try came from prop Steve Klein, his first for the club, following a well-controlled 20 metre driving maul.

Klein broke from the back of the maul and showing deceptive pace crashed over for a well-received score.

Then came the biggest cheer of the day when winger Reggie Raynor charged down a clearance by Butterworth, flattening the bigger man in the process.

Thankfully, after treatment, Butterworth picked himself up to generous applause from the Beckenham crowd.

The half ended with Wright kicking his second penalty, awarded when Mids forwards went to ground at a ruck, to give the hosts a comfortable 20-0 lead.

Almost immediately after the break Butterworth kicked Mids only score from a penalty for offside.

But Beckenham came back stronger than before and after a period of sustained pressure from their forward they won a five metre scrum.

After dominating the set piece they achieved a pushover and a first try for Tom McMurdo to complete a great home debut for the no. 8.

The home crowd then welcomed back Paul Roumph from a long injury lay off as he replaced the inspirational Pat Markey in the second row while Raynor moved to scrum half to replace Ben Wood, who had taken a knock.

Raynor made an immediate impact when, after good forward play, he found himself five metres from the line with only two forwards to beat and a try, scored under the posts, was inevitable.

The same man then finished off a superb blindside move from a scrum in midfield which saw Steve Benham hit the line hard and then fix his man to make scoring a formality.

Wright completed the conversion with the final kick of the game to give Beckenham their biggest winning margin of the season so far.

Coach Conrad Bool praised his team's good all round performance and singled out the back row of Jamie Pinn and home debutants Ludo Ardouin and Tom McMurdo for praise.

Steve Klein, standing in for absent captain Jarrad Tipene, said: "I'm proud of the guys as we performed well. To win so convincingly after a difficult start to the year is great and just what we needed."

Beckenham are now fourth in the rugby union London Two South league, just two points behind Sevenoaks, and they travel to Maidstone who were surprise conquerors of Sevenoaks last weekend on Saturday.