The Bulls started slowly and spent the first quarter of the game in their own half. Solid defence held out the South Woodham forwards running from depth close to the fringes. Eventually the pressure told when newly installed pack leader Adam Edwards was adjudged to have been offside in the ‘red zone’ once too often and received a yellow card, the visitors fly half slotted the penalty kick for a 3-0 lead.

The return of Chris Hinsley made a huge difference to the Bulls line out securing his own ball without drama and stealing possession from the opposition on 3 consecutive occasions. Half backs Sale and Wade struggled with the slippery ball until they focused on closer passing, a deft offload from Wade then put Tom Harrison away down the left flank. Ben Veasey-Lark stormed up in support and showed impressive pace to touch down in his favoured left hand corner to give the bulls the lead.

The Beccles eight then started to gain the upper hand, after a sound kick by Sam Harmer a series of drives by Reece Ling and Paul Wilson led to a 5 metre scrum. Rob Wilson who was at his rampaging best then proved unstoppable from number 8 to score just before half time with Wade adding the extra points for a 10-3 lead at the break. Shortly after the break South Woodham received their second yellow card and were under real pressure from the Bulls forwards. Wade’s powerful boot and much improved kick chasing pinned the visitors in their 22, a 5 m scrum was driven over the line enabling replacement scrum half Hewitt to touch down for a converted try to extend the lead to 17-3. South Woodham lost their captain and influential full back to injuries as Beccles looked to score a fourth try to reflect their forward dominance and secure a bonus point.

Unfortunately a loss of discipline proved to be crucial as Beccles failed to extend their lead. Marcus Sale was carded for a late tackle after a chip through, the visitors fly half kicked the penalty to reduce the deficit to 17-6. Two further yellow cards to Vaisey-Lark and Hinsley for becoming involved in some heated skirmishes left the Bulls with fourteen men for the rest of the match and the unfortunate Jack Tipple stranded on the bench as it was not possible to reintroduce him as planned. A total of 7 yellow cards were far too many to be issued in the game with both sides losing players for offences for which a penalty award would have sufficed.

South Woodham showed why they were topping the table as they mounted a brave fightback in the last quarter sensing the possibility of a losing bonus point of their own. Some dynamic charges by their outstanding number 7 whose tackle count was huge stretched the Bulls defence. The South Woodham second row then made a break down the blind side and showed impressive pace to score a try wide out well converted to reduce the deficit to 17-13. The Bulls then held out for victory however may come to regret letting the possibility of a bonus point slip away for the third time this season and conceding the third bonus point to their opponents in the last 5 minutes of a game.

Beccles Team T Holtzer, S Lake, R Ling (c), P Wilson, J Tipple, A Edwards, C Hinsley, R Wilson, M Sale, L Wade, T Harrison, S Williamson, G Starks, S Harmer, B Veasey-Lark Res K Rix, C Frost, G Hewitt. The B&B skips man of the match was Sean Lake.

Next week Beccles travel to Sudbury and will need to be far more clinical.