Beccles got off to the worst possible start when Cameron Bonner was sent to the bin for a dangerous tackle. Marcus Sale was then involved in an altercation with the referee and was sent off. This meant that Beccles had to play the remainder of the game with 14 men and thirteen for the following ten minutes.

Two penalties from the home side soon followed, giving them an early 6-point lead. Beccles continued to battle bravely and refused to give in. The game saw the highly anticipated return of Gavin Starks, who had not played first team rugby for over two years with a shoulder injury. Despite a promising start, the flanker was side-lined early in the first half with a recurrence of the shoulder injury, which is hoped to be not too serious.

From a driven maul deep in the Beccles twenty-two, Harlow rolled over for the first try of the game. Bonner returned to the field and no sooner were Beccles again reduced to thirteen men, this time Charlie Hay given ten minutes for dissent.

Despite some heroic defence from Jaryd Bennet and B&B Skip Hire Man of the Match John Payne, Harlow made the most of their two man advantage and scored another try, spinning the ball wide to give their winger a free run in.

With Hay returning to the field Beccles, managed to put pressure on the Harlow defence and were rewarded with a penalty on the stroke of half time which Wade converted.

Despite being a man down the second half was a very different affair. Making the most of the strong back-wind, Bennett and Dave Tieuti used their kicking game to good effect. Harmer and Suchy both made probing runs but could not quite get over the whitewash.

With Beccles beginning to tire, Harlow scored two more tries in the second half, both coming from out wide. In what was certainly Beccles’ most spirited performance to date, the visitors never gave up and were rewarded when a fine offload from Bennett fed Bonner coming in on a hard line, who used his power to crash over the try line.

Meanwhile, the second team secured a memorable victory over UEA, running out with a 41-8 win. Next Saturday sees a double header at Beef Meadow, with the first team hosting Old Brentwoods and the second team hosting Wisbech.

Team: Charlie Hay, Luke Wade, Tom Moore, Tom Port, Keith Johnstone, Gav Starks, Marcus Sale (C), Matt Goode, Gavin Hewitt, Jaryd Bennett, Dave Tieuti, Cameron Bonner, Cemil Durak, Michael Suchy, Sam Harmer. Rep: John Payne.