Men's 1st XV
Matches
Sat 20 Feb 2016  ·  London 2 South East
Beckenham
20
0
Hove Rugby Club
Men's 1st XV
Match Report - Hove XV vs Beckenham XV

Match Report - Hove XV vs Beckenham XV

Cameron Robertson23 Feb 2016 - 17:39
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Match report from this weekends game against Beckenham, written by Captain Sam Whiting.

Hove vs. Beckenham (A)



Hove travelled to Beckenham looking to do the double over the London side after a hard fought 12-8 win at the Recreation Ground.
With a strong wind driving down to the bottom right hand corner of the pitch, captain Whiting won the toss and decided to play with the elements at their backs.

Beckenham kicked off into the wind and the ball held up however a strong take from Declan Peake allowed Hove to get into their stride with pods of forwards running off Rob Biggs at 9. Hove won a penalty on halfway after a Beckenham player failed to roll away from a ruck and the ball was drilled into the Beckenham 22. Declan Peake finding Carl Buckland with his darts and Hove went to work trying to maul the Beckenham 8 backwards. After the maul stagnated, the ball was passed out to the backs with Martin Macdonald cutting back to get over the game line. Hove continued to work the phases, however too many times the ruck was not won cleanly and momentum was lost. In the end Beckenham held out as a Hove player was caught holding on.

Again Hove found themselves in Beckenham territory however the ball was spilt in contact and Beckenham’s big loose head prop began to trundle up the pitch through some very weak Hove defence. He offloaded to the supporting winger who in turn drew Will Walker at 15 to send his outside centre under the sticks. Conversion successful and Beckenham led 7-0 against the run of play.
From the restart Sam Whiting kicked out on the full from the kick off and this gave Beckenham a solid platform in which to build on. Strong carries from the Beckenham 12 and loose forwards brought about good yards against the strong breeze however Hove won a penalty after Rob Ward perfected the jackal at the ruck. Hove again kicked deep into Beckenham territory, however the line out was lost and another good position went begging.

Hove continued to attack Beckenham with the scrum holding firm. Will Walker broke from full back, who in turn found left wing Sam Bath; however he was brought down just short of the line. After recycling the ball Hove were again penalised for not releasing and Beckenham cleared their lines. Trying to increase the tempo of the game, Sam Whiting took a quick tap and go from a penalty, however the ball was knocked on.

Hove continued to press hard when Mike Robinson put Freddy Henry through a hole close to the line, however the ball was lost and with that the HT whistle sounded with Beckenham leading by 7 points to nil.
Hove kicked long from the restart, however after a penalty for hands in the ruck; the Beckenham 12 pinned Hove into their 22. The Beckenham 8 drove hard from the resulting line out, however some very strong defence from Adrian Shergold and Rob Ward kept the home side at bay.

Hove did well from any possession they got and against the elements worked tirelessly to make the hard yards through forward carries and Boyd Flavell in midfield. The Hove back three were working well tidying up any Beckenham kicks, with Guy Patton twice staying strong in contact and buying his team mates time to get back and support.

Beckenham continued to run hard at the Hove try line, however the defence stood firm time and time again. After countless phases however, the substitute prop found himself one on one with Sam Bath (who was probably giving about 70kgs to the bloke) and from 5 yards out there was nothing the winger could do. Conversion missed 12-0. A penalty was given to Beckenham at the restart after Freddy Henry was adjudged to have gone in late on the try scorer.

Hove continued to press from deep with a strong run from Martin Macdonald, supported well by Will Walker and Sam Whiting, however again this came to nothing. Beckenham then won themselves a penalty under the posts which the goal kicker gratefully accepted 15-0.
Hove continued to press however after an overlap was created on the short side, Ian William knocked on and momentum was lost. Beckenham had the final say with the winger stepping inside the covering defence of Rob Biggs to score. Conversion missed and with that the referee blew for full time - Beckenham 20 Hove 0.

Another disappointing day at the office for Hove who struggled to really create much in the first half with the wind at their backs.
Hove now face back to back home games against Crowborough and Old Alleynians who sit one place below and above them respectively. Hove need to come away with two good W’s in these games in order to put some space between them and the other relegation threatened sides.

Man of the Match: Ade Ahergold
Hove: Wallace, Peake, Shergold, Buckland, William, Ward, Henry, Robinson, Biggs, Whiting ©, Bath, Flavell, Macdonald, Patton, Walker © Subs: Torres, Garrish and Tetteh-Wright

Match details

Match date

Sat 20 Feb 2016

Kickoff

14:15

Competition

London 2 South East
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Senior Mens Sponsor - Apex Group
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Club Partner - Uncle Sams