Beccles were able to field a strong team, knowing this was a match they had to win if they wanted to avoid finishing bottom of the table.
Beccles made a solid start to the game and kept possession well for the opening ten minutes. Eventually they forced a kickable penalty which Gedney slotted to give Beccles the lead.
Swaffham fielded a large pack and they were on top in the scrums and made good ground mauling the ball. They powered their way back in to the game with a lineout which was driven over for a score.
Swaffham kept the pressure up but Beccles were defending well. Both sides missed penalties before Swaffham scored again after some good driving play by their forwards. This gave a half time score of 10 – 3.
Beccles stepped it up in the second half and started playing some more structured rugby which got them on the front foot. After creating a few chances they finally took one to get back in the game. A good break down the left was stopped short of the Swaffham line. It was recycled quickly and found Man of the Match Bonner who skipped his way through the defence to score. Gedney added the conversion to level the scores.
Gedney added the next try to put Beccles in to the lead. Beccles put together a number of phases, sucking in the defence, before he found space to go over under the posts. He converted his own try.
Beccles didn’t sit back on their lead a quickly extended it further. Ball was recycled quickly on the Swaffham 22. A long miss pass from Bonner in midfield put Armstrong in space out wide. He rounded the defence to score under the posts. Gedney added the conversion.
Swaffham pushed hard to come back but the Beccles defence was solid. They kept the opposition out and picked up their first away victory of the season by 10 – 24.
Beccles now have a week off before hosting Newmarket on the 25th. The second team hosted Southwold II on Saturday and were able to field a full team for the first time in a while. The team is developing well and put in a good performance despite going down by 61 – 7.