Becs give Darts a bad day at the office

Good start by Darts in big local derby with 2nd playing third. We knew this was going to be a tough encounter as we hadn't been on best form and Becs were on a massive run of games without defeat but playfor the first 20 minutes was mostly inside the home 22 but we were too static close to the line taking the ball standing still giving the defence time to set themselves. This combined with too many penalties let Becs off the hook and when a gap was left close to a ruck it allowed one of the home forwards the opportunity to break and take play into the Darts half for the first time. A penalty and two ir three hard runs forced Darts to concede a penalty infront of the posts to give the home team a 3-0 lead. Darts hit back taking play back up the slope into the Becs 22 and the home team had to concede a number of penalties and from a lineout Darts set up the driving maul and went over for a try from Jack Hooban. Cappa converted from out wide. 3-7. This should have been the moment when Darts started to get their game going but they were certainly off colour and werent showing the same dynamism that we were seeing from Becs who were using their big forwards to drive into the Darts backs. With minutes left in the half Becs really hit Darts with a double blow s coring two tries the second of which was created with good driving from the becs forwards followed by a long pass to their right winger who stepped inside the covering defence. The half ended with the score slightly flattering Becs at 15-7.
Darts were looking to take advantage of the slope in the second half and hopefully to get some phase play going but we were guilty of sloppy play and giving away too many penalties which gave the home team great confidence to really take the game to Darts and they did this with a lot of quality and teamwork. Massive work by their forwards , especially their locks and No 8 who seemed to be everywhere on the parkcreated gaaps that they rarely failed to take advantage of . Even when Darts were in the opposition half they couldn't execute and these mistakes put Becs on the front foot again and a missed tackle let the home side in again. Becs continued to play their well organised game plan and the lead was stretched to 34-7. As expected Darts didn't give up but their good play didn't result in a score when the last pass was forward. More opportunities came and went but eventually the pressure began to tell and when it looked like we were going over a Becs player killed the ball and was given a yellow. From the resulting lineout Jack Hooban again was the beneficiary of the try. Darts were now looking to try an get a bonus point with their customary late burst but we were spent and whatever we tried ended in failure. Another error when on the front foot gave the ball to Becs impressive No8 who raced in from halfway. To rub salt into the wounds Becs scored with the last play of the match to win the game which they thoroughly deserved.
Although we didn't really turn up for this important match we were up against a team who are playing some fantastic rugby and on this form really deserve to be where they are. Darts will work hard to ensure we hget back on track and play the rugby we have seen from them on many occasions this season.