LOWESTOFT & YARMOUTH 8 – BECCLES 13

Beccles cemented their place as the premier club in the Waveney area with a win over Lowestoft on Saturday. They are unbeaten and three points clear at the top of the league at the halfway point of the season. In a hard fought battle against their local rivals they won by 13-8.
A number of injuries and unavailability’s meant that the Bulls had to make a few changes for this game. Hall came in to the centre and Puxley made his first appearance of the season at fullback.
The first half of the game was very tight with neither side creating many scoring chances. Lowestoft went ahead with a penalty. This was soon cancelled out by a Puxley penalty as Beccles began to take control. The experienced Lowestoft pack was expecting to dominate the younger Beccles pack but this wasn’t the case. The Beccles scrum was solid and Hinsley and Wilson took a lot of ball against the throw in the lineout. Neither team managed to add to their score before half time and the teams went in with the score at 3-3.
Beccles put the pressure on in the second half and Lowestoft had to defend desperately for long periods. In the end the try was scored by Hadridge. After a series of pick and drives by the forwards Ling was held up just short of the line. With Lowestoft desperately trying to kill the ball Hadridge picked up and burrowed over the line. Puxley added the conversion and soon after added a penalty. This completed the Bulls scoring for the day with the two veteran members of the side scoring all the points between them.
Lowestoft came back hard in the last ten minutes. However, the Beccles defence was superb. In particular Hall put in a number of massive hits to drive back the opposition and was made the White Horse man of the match. In the end the Beccles defence was unlocked by a superb reverse pass by the Lowestoft Number 8 as he put the Lowestoft winger over for a try. It was too little too late though and the final whistle was met with cheers from the large group of Beccles supporters on the side line.
This was the last league match of the year; the Bulls face Norwich II on Saturday in a friendly. They will then start the New Year with a home game with Cantabrigans on January 7th.

Keith Johnstone Beccles Press Officer