With a number of the more senior players missing the team had a youthful look about it. In particular the backs were made up of the clubs young talent, Harmer made his first league start at fly-half with Wade and Duruk in the centres and Long at fullback. On the wings Veasey-Lark partnered Hoffman who was playing his last game before going on his travels. Porter was captain for the day with Lake unavailable.
Beccles started the game quite well, taking the game to the opposition. However, it was Romford who opened the scoring when the pounced on a loose Beccles pass to breakaway. Four more tries followed in the first half as Romford started to play some good rugby.
With Beccles 27-0 down at half-time this could have turned in to a big defeat if the young players heads had gone down. However, they deserve credit for picking themselves up and putting in a much better second half performance.
Beccles opened the scoring in the second half. A good take at the lineout by Wilson was fed off the top. The ball was passed wide and Long found space to go over in the corner. Wade added an excellent conversion from the touchline.
Beccles kept the pressure up and a move from the back of a scrum put Hoffman in place to go over in the corner. Romford came back with a couple of tries before Beccles scored again. A precise kick from the East Suffolk Association for the Blind man of the match Harmer fell to Duruk who sprinted away to score in the corner. Wade added another touchline conversion.
Romford showed why they are top of the league as they added two more tries playing some breath taking rugby. Beccles pushed for the try scoring bonus point their efforts deserved but could not come up with the fourth try and the match ended 53-19.
They may have missed out on the bonus point but their second half performance was as good as a bonus point. Beccles had the best points difference of the bottom three going in to the game but at half time they were looking at a seventy or eighty point loss which would have wiped this out. The second half comeback meant that they still have the best points difference which could be as good as another point as the relegation battle plays out.
This week Beccles travel to Chelmsford for another tough encounter. In the home game against Chelmsford Beccles narrowly missed out on a victory so will be hopeful of picking up some more points at the weekend.