Going up against any team presents challenges and this week Streatham decided to test themselves against a team six divisions higher, albeit their second, which as SC were informed was one of the strongest Beckenham had put out.

So with the challenge set the team went about their business with ferocious aplomb. And boy did they throw the kitchen sink at Beckenham.

With the front 5, once again able to scrummage, ran rampant against their opponents at every opportunity. They were more than ably supported by the back row of Mike Parker, Jack Peddle and Man of the Match Johnny Korcz.

Behind the scrum Liam Gallagher stepped in from Inside Centre to cover at Scrum Half and performed admirably all day long.

Chris Geary put in a dogged display despite being singled out for a little bit of off the ball attention, consistently throughout the game.

And despite an aggressive backline there were some really good signs that the game plan is starting to work.

The score line doesn't really reflect the game. Streatham gave a soft try in the first half in the only 30 seconds of the entire game that they were caught unawares. And by 70 minutes had only given up 10 points in total.

Unfortunately as a few niggles started to show and players were deliberately rested, Streatham just ran out of steam and conceded to well taken tries.

The boys can take huge pride in their performance and on another day could quite easily have one this fixture if the bounce of the ball went their way.

Moving forward the general belief is that the boys are in a really strong place for the start of the season, where it looks like we will finally be in a position to field something resembling our strongest team.

So next week brings Bec Old Boys down to Thornton Heath, after which Streatham will hold their club dinner, please speak to committee members regarding tickets for the event