Conditions were perfect for open rugby and Beccles soon had the visitors under pressure with good interplay between forwards and backs. The pace of the Beccles onslaught sucked the East London defence in and allowed Chris Frost to make an outside break and score under the posts after 5 minutes. Luke Wade converted and added a penalty from shortly afterwards for an early 10-0 lead.

East London came back into the game as the bulls line out began to creak however new recruit Adam Edwards was prominent in defence with warhorse Chris Hinsley turning over possession regularly. A subtle offload by Edwards opened up space for Ben Vasey-Lark to make ground down the left wing, Sam Harmer exploited a gap in the inside centre channel to put the powerful Gavin Starks over for an unconverted try. Marcus Sale cleverly chipped into the corner from the base of a scrum shortly before half time. Pressure at the subsequent line out allowed Tris Holtzer to snaffle East London ball and skipper Reece Ling dived over close to the posts with Wade converting for a 22-0 lead.

Beccles started the second half with 14 men following a dangerous tackle leading to Edwards being sent to the sin bin. This allowed East London to mount an attack and score in the corner to reduce the deficit to 22-5. Coach Keith Rix used the new interchange system for replacements to vary his back row options and bring on the rejuvenated James Giddins to add punch to the Bulls forward drives. Shortly after the East London hooker was sin binned for a trip Luke Wade added a penalty to give Beccles breathing space. A further tactical change by Keith Rix bringing on Gavin Hewitt at scrum half and moving Marcus Sale to outside centre added a direct option in midfield. Solid defence by tough tackling replacement Robert Hall prevented the visitors making ground down the flanks and forced them to resort to a tactical kicking game. Good work on the counter attack by evergreen Alan Cooper and Ben Vasey-Lark led to Sale charging over under the posts for a further converted try putting the match out of reach of the visitors and securing the try bonus point.

Gavin Hewitt sniped down the blind side following powerful mauling play by Sean Lake and Ryan Guntrip for a fifth try. East London showed grit in pushing the Bulls back into their 22 and secured a well-deserved consolation try from a 5 metre scrum. An encouraging start however Beccles face a tough test on Saturday with a visit from newly promoted Old Cantabs who were unbeaten last season. The Cambridge unit have a fearsome pack and gave Norwich a torrid time in the scrums drawing their first league match 12-12. All are welcome to Beef Meadow tomorrow for a 3 o’clock kick off.