Beccles 0 v Swaffham 24

With a number of players unavailable Beccles fielded a young and inexperienced side. There were first team debuts for Carroll and Roslyn.
Swaffham were on top early with their large pack looking to dominate their smaller Beccles opposition. Their first try came from a push over scrum and the second followed from a driving maul to put them 12 – 0 up.
When Beccles did get some ball they played some good rugby. They managed to put some phases together and make ground but were not able to cross the Swaffham line.
In the second half Beccles began to get a bit more ball and continued to push the opposition. Man of the Match Gedney was running the game well from fly half. Veteran Cooper was also having a good game until he fell foul of the new high tackle laws and went to the sin bin for ten minutes.
This gave Swaffham that space they needed and as the game entered the last quarter they added two more tries to seal the game.
Beccles kept battling though and spent the last five minutes camped on the Swaffham line. They threw everything at the opposition and Swaffham had to concede a string of penalties to keep Beccles out. In the end Beccles ran out of time but finished the game with their head up.
Despite the loss the young and inexperienced Beccles side can take some positives from this performance. They now enter an important part of the season with the next five games winnable. If they can put together a run they can move up the table and salvage a difficult season.
First up is a trip to Thurston on Saturday with the seconds entertaining Diss III’s.