RUGBY: Centenary Season Starts With Win
Hastings & Bexhill 31 Beckenham II 16
PETER KNIGHT
Hastings & Bexhill kicked off their 100th season last Saturday with a pre-match lunch, the first of many celebratory events. The occasion was attended by local MPs, the Mayor of Hastings, the Principal of Ark Alexandra Academy, four Presidents of Sussex RFU and many of the club sponsors. The team went on to secure a convincing home win in the Kent 3 League against the newly promoted Beckenham II XV.
New coaches Bruce Steadman and Ben Petty selected a team based on last year’s squad, but included two fresh faces, Jackson Coulter at full back and Vinnie Harrison in the pack. Both are products of the club’s youth development programme.
Hastings opened the scoring with an unconverted try from Coulter. The H&B forwards were dominating the play and fed the ball out to the back line. After increased pressure on the visitors’ defence, centre Jake Stinson benefited from a great break by Tom Hirst to touch down, Hirst converting to make the score 12-0.
Beckenham came back with a converted try and two well-taken penalties to lead by one point at half time.
Barring the concession of one penalty kick, the second half was all about H&B: they dominated every set piece and built up a clear lead. Harrison scored a good try to restore the advantage. Hooker Josh Clarke crashed over the line for the bonus point try, which was converted by Coulter. Then Hirst scored the try of the game with an incisive run through the visitors’ defence to touch down under the posts. A further conversion by Coullter made the final score 31-16.
The whole H&B squad, inspired by captain Harry Walker, put in a great performance, beating a strong London club whose 1st XV play in a league five levels above. Next week H&B are away to New Ash Green, and hopefully they can build on this first success.
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