UCS Old Boys are punished for switching off against Beaconsfield
UCS captain James Boyde. Pic: Nick Cook/UCS Old Boys RFC - Credit: Archant
A period of complacency cost UCS Old Boys as they began their league season with a 31-5 defeat at recently-relegated Beaconsfield in London North-West Division Two.
The signs were promising for the visitors in the opening exchanges as they camped in the Beaconsfield half after kick-off, but they were met with confrontational and robust tackling.
Beaconsfield relieved the pressure and began to dominate possession as they put three converted tries past a struggling defence to stamp their authority on the game.
UCS struggled with the variety of their hosts’ attack and, despite the best of efforts of returning winger Dom Barron, Beaconsfield’s grip on the game tightened and they eased to a 21-0 lead at the break, after adding a penalty.
Beaconsfield went on to exercise their superiority in the second half, taking advantage of James May’s spell in the sin-bin to touch down for another try.
The Old Boys gradually fought back with a spell of possession that resulted in Tom McKelvey wrestling his way over the line, but it was too little, too late.
“We switched off for 15 minutes and were made to pay the price by a good side,” admitted UCS captain James Boyd. “There are definitely a few things for us to work on, but the lads showed real character in the second half and we’ll take the positives into next week’s game.”
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UCS: Ghanem, Bean (Klimov), Watson-Cowan, Orr, May, Trotter (Campodonico), McKelvey, Boyd, O’Dwyer, McAviney, Baron, Hastings, Arnold (Bean), Rollo-Walker, Wilson.
