Cranleigh fall foul of rampant first half display from Bec Old Boys in defeat

Cranleigh arrived late at Bec Old Boys, mainly due to a six-mile queue to a serious accident on the A3, which gave the Cranes little time to prepare for the game.

With Bec Old Boys going downhill in the first half, they knew that points were essential in the first half.

Starting as if they had filled up with jet fuel, they tore into the Cranes, finding Cranleigh lacking in defence and scoring at regular intervals.

Four tries were created through attacking at pace and well executed handling as Bec ended the first half up 35-0.

The Cranes looked shell-shocked and turned downhill for the second half after regrouping with much better shape and determination.

The forwards started to drive the strong Bec Old Boys scrum backwards and after ten minutes Pierre Godwin lifted spirits by scoring, and taking four tacklers with him, to which the extras were dutifully added.

However the Bec forwards replied immediately, and drove up the hill, eventually scoring under the posts leaving an easy conversion.

Cranleigh hit back virtually straight away as scrum-half Luke Bargman weaved his way through the Bec defence to score - converted excellently by Curtis Beecroft.

Cranleigh’s defence was now operating well and several driving attempts ended in Ben Terson crashing over from halfway out.

The Cranes put more pressure on Bec but the handling let the side several times in the attempt to add any score to the game.

One bright spot was to see Brendan Taylor back playing in the action after a shoulder operation which will have lifted the team for future games ahead.

Hopefully, next weekend at home to Economicals, a few more injured players, plus one or two who haven’t been available, will return.