By Colin Whiteley
Thanet Wanderers RUFC 5 – 53 Beccehamian RFC
Injuries sustained in the pre-Christmas match at Canterbury meant the experienced centre pairing of Nick Herbert and Henry Mirams plus scrum-half Tom Walton were not available for selection.
It was good to have Gabe Hayden back at hooker with Luke Browning at loose-head prop and Louis Marshall returned to the centre for Wanderers.
The West Wickham based opposition are among the league’s promotion candidates and remain in third place after the match.
Despite the recent heavy rains, the pitch was playable as Thanet kicked off with the wind behind them. Wanderers competed well during the opening quarter, stealing a line-out and exerting pressure to draw two penalties. After ten minutes, the visitors went ahead when the Beccehamian right wing rounded the defence to touch down for an unconverted try.
Captain, Sam Taylor, went close as Wanderers continued to exert pressure. Beccs missed a straightforward penalty opportunity when Thanet were offside but on 22 minutes added a second unconverted try as the home defence was slow to regroup.
A third followed, seven minutes later, that was under the posts making the conversion easy. Rogers led a good break for Wanderers that faltered after a knock-on but the visitors’ bonus point try was secured minutes late. Half time was reached with the visitors leading 25-0 after they converted a penalty in the closing minutes of the half.
Kurt Pearson and Lenny Brown left the bench for the second half as Browning and Dennis Davies took a break. The visitors continued to dominate during the second half as their outstanding number eight was quick to initiate movements that set his elusive backs free to pressurise the Wanderers’ defence which buckled on several occasions during the half to concede four converted tries.
The Wanderers pack had kept parity for most of the game and in the closing minutes of the game they were rewarded with an unconverted try following a determined attack on the Beccehamian line which saw Pearson claim the touchdown to make the final score 53-5.
During the aftermath of the score, a Beccehamian forward received a red card from referee Simon Bingham for throwing a punch. The result means that Wanderers remain in bottom place in the league.
Next Saturday Bromley, who are in fifth place, will be the visitors to St Peters for a 2pm kick off. Wanderers will hope to have their injured players again available for selection for this match: the reverse fixture was lost 47-18, all support for the Wanderers at this game at their Callis Court Road Ground is very welcome.