Gravesend Rugby Club booked a date with Thanet in the semi-finals of the Kent Cup as they made immediate amends for the previous week’s league defeat by Dorking with Saturday’s 41-5 defeat of Beckenham at Balmoral Avenue.

The home side were made to suffer as Gravesend produced a scintillating display which resulted in four converted tries, two further tries and one penalty. Jamie Harris opened the scoring with a try that Gary Gray converted.

When Austin Saunders pounced on an interception, he slipped the ball to John McDonough who went over for a try that Gray converted.

Then Tony Nolan took advantage to go over for a try that Gray converted for a 21-0 half-time lead.

The second half opened with early pressure from a confident Gravesend pack and following a lineout maul within five minutes of the restart, John Clement’s quick ball, plus great dummy running, confused the Beckenham backs, allowing McDonough to run through and score.

After sustained Beckenham pressure, Gravesend broke into the Beckenham 22 and were awarded a penalty that Gray converted. The home side responded with an unconverted try from James Cleverly in the 29th minute.

A chance break by Gary Gray enabled Matt Weighman to score an unconverted try from the ensuing maul.

From the kick-off, Rab Forbes ran in from 40 yards to score near the posts with Gray converting.