Beckenham travelled to Wimbledon and secured the points with a late try in the opening league encounter of the season.

With conditions perfect for rugby the home side started strongly but could not create a scoring opportunity as Beckenham’s defence dominated. After 10 minutes the visitors finally got some decent possession. Fly half James Curr made a good break and when he finally got tackled the hosts conceded a penalty at the resulting breakdown which Pat Wright calmly slotted over.

Wimbledon replied five minutes later with a penalty of their own to level the game and then took the lead with another penalty as Beckenham were penalised at the breakdown after twenty five minutes. The visitors started to take control of the game and used their powerful forwards to work their way up the field. Wimbledon gave away a penalty deep in their half and Beckenham kicked for the corner. From the resulting lineout they drove over with Patrick Hooton securing the touchdown. A missed conversion left the half time score at 6 to 8 to the visitors.

Wimbledon regained the advantage with another penalty after fifty five minutes but Beckenham soon had their lead restored when Curr’s cross-field kick was collected by Pete Isaac. Isaac made ground and created space for the supporting Ariez Metha who got stopped just short of the line but was able to find Liam Markey who somehow managed to scramble his way over in the corner for an unconverted try on his league debut. Another Wright penalty extended the lead to seven but a defensive mix–up gave the hosts the chance to score a converted try to level the game with less than fifteen minutes remaining.

Beckenham did not panic despite two disallowed tries and camped themselves near the Wimbledon line. After a series of pick and drives and infringements by the home side Luke Harding took a quick tap and fed Paul Currie who burst his way over for the winning score. Pat Wright added the extras and Beckenham comfortably saw out the remaining five minutes to claim victory by 16 to 23.

Head Coach Dan Leek was pleased with the win and particularly how the boys refused to panic as they looked for the winning score late in the game. However, failure to take our chances almost cost us a victory today and the loss of a bonus point could be crucial in the final shake up.