Pilgrims Match Report

Pilgrims 41

Beckenham 22

The Pilgrims welcomed Beckenham to the MTG for their final home game of the season knowing that 2 wins from their final 3 games will secure their place in regional 2 for next season.

The reverse fixture was decided when the pilgrims missed the kick at goal with the final play of the game to give Beckenham the victory and the city side were keen to put that right and showed good intent from the first whistle as they attacked down the slope in the 1st half. The pilgrims looked solid in the set piece and that was giving the home backs a good platform to attack with Beckenham’s defence commendable in stopping a number of promising early attacks. The Pilgrims did get on the score sheet after 12 mins when a fine break from returning centre Garry Jones saw Tom Mackenzie in support to power over out wide for a 5-0 lead which was quickly followed by Owain Collins adding a second unconverted score before Beckenham hit back against the run of play to score a converted try, 10-7. HT.

Pilgrims kicked off the second half and instantly added their 3rd score when a loose Beckenham kick was secured by Constant and offloaded to Isaac Devine whose skillful run and offload found Collins who in turn put Bull in space before he found wingman Max Campbell who scored in the corner under pressure to cap a fine score that was converted well from the touchline by Hilton, 17-7. Beckenham looked to hit back and thought they had scored following a missed tackle by the ruck only for fullback Owain Collins to somehow get his body under the Beckenham player to prevent the grounding and force a goal line drop out.

The respite was short lived as Beckenham followed up with a fine break from their powerful number 8 and the Beckenham backs found their way over in the corner, 17-12.

Pilgrims added their bonus point score after good work from the forwards from a 5m penalty saw prop Cam MacMillan power over, 22-12. Max Campbell then added a 2nd following a strong run from Constant into heavy traffic, 29-12.

Beckenham were struggling to deal with pilgrims aggressive defence and an element of niggle started to enter the game. A push on Stan bull following a fine tackle saw him yellow carded after he was deemed to retaliate with a push of his own. Beckenham kicked the penalty to the corner and mauled well allowing them to break off the back and score out wide, 29-17. Pilgrims hit back 5 minutes later when fine interplay between forwards and backs saw pilgrims surge towards the line and only a cynical infringement from Beckenham prevented a score which saw their winger receive a yellow card and see both teams down to 14. Tom Mackenzie powered over from the resulting penalty to extend the lead to 36-17.

Pilgrims then gave away 2 penalties in quick succession that allowed Beckenham easy territory gains with the 2nd being kicked to the corner well. A well worked line out was mauled from 5meters out and the Beckenham scrum half broke off the back to dive over and score their bonus point try. 36-22.

With the clock ticking down the pilgrims added a further try-Man of the match James Everrat carried powerfully and bumped off an attempted tackler to get in behind. The ball was moved wide to Max Campbell and he dived over in the corner to cap a good pilgrims performance and bring the final score to 41-22. Pilgrims know that a win from either of their remaining two fixtures away at Battersea Ironsides on 11th April or Sutton & Epsom on 18th April will see them secure their place in regional 2 next season without the need for a playoff game.