Sutton & Epsom bounce back with blistering second half demolition of Beckenham

By Paul Phillips

Sutton & Epsom returned to winning ways in London Division One South with a 28-8 win over Beckenham at Rugby Lane.

The first hour of the game was eminently forgettable, but the final quarter burst into life like a firework as Sutton scored four unanswered tries in less than 20 minutes to secure victory.

The try scorers, Ian Knott, Dave Cook, Sam Hurley and Guy Stuckey-Clarke, added the sparkle on an otherwise dank and dreary afternoon.

Sutton had continued where they had left off the previous week at Cobham, where lots of good approach play was spoilt by handling errors in the opposition’s 22 metre area.

For their part, Beckenham utilised their rush defence to good effect but rarely put the Sutton goal line under any sustained pressure.

However, Sutton had total domination in the pack all afternoon and welcomed back James Caddy and Austin Sheppard to add their strength.

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On countless occasions, Sutton shoved the visitors off their scrum and Shawn Renwick was back to his rampaging best with the ball in hand from the base of the scrum.

Beckenham had taken an early lead from a penalty and then added to their score, when winger Thomas Holland charged down an attempted touch kick by Hurley.

The ball bounced kindly for the visitors and Holland had a simple task of scoring the try.

The conversion (taken by a prop forward no less) slipped wide of the posts, and Hurley slotted two penalties so that Sutton trailed at half time 6-8.

The early exchanges of the second half were dominated by Sutton who probed the visitor’s defence without success, until a kick ahead by Chris Hitchcock was chased down by Knott who stretched over the try line to score.

This suddenly provided Sutton with the conviction that Beckenham were there to be beaten.

Immediately Sutton switched to their more expansive running game with the backs willing to take on the Beckenham defence at every opportunity as their earlier hesitancy disappeared.

Showing his ball carrying form of last season Cook added a second try, with 10 minutes remaining, as he neatly evaded a number of tackles and Hurley added the conversion.

It was now one way traffic as Beckenham sought to hold on.

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However, Hurley added his second try in consecutive games when he scored out wide on the right and in injury time Sutton added the cream on the cake to secure a bonus point.

From a ruck, Frankie Murray chipped the ball over the Beckenham defence and Stuckey-Clarke managed to out-sprint his opposite number to secure the fourth try in a breath taking 20 minutes, giving Sutton victory 28-8.

This was an important result against obdurate opponents in particular the first bonus point win of the season, and will boost confidence after the below par performance against Cobham.

Sutton & Epsom have no game this weekend, but will host table toppers Chichester at Rugby Lane on November 23, kick off at 2.30pm.

Team: Ian Knott, Sam Hurley, Dave Cook, Warren Steyn, Guy Stuckey-Clarke, Chris Hitchcock, Frankie Murray, Tariq El Khaldi, Phil Williams, Raynn Bruce, Austin Sheppard, Felix Symonds, James Caddy, Joe Ridgley, Shawn Renwick (capt).

Subs: Steve Warnham, Paul Webster, Dave Crowest

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