MATCH REPORTs BEES (a) 12 - 37 LONDON WELSH

Saturday 19th September 2009

Following the departure of England Counties and Sevens fly-half Mark Woodrow a few days earlier and with the club undergoing significant financial difficulties at the moment, it was understandable to a certain extent that a disjointed performance would follow the Bees to their Championship destination last Saturday. Not helped by a blight of early and pre-season injuries Russell Earnshaw’s men travelled to Old Deer Park looking for a first win, but that they only found a third straight defeat will not be helpful to anyone concerned or connected with the club.

London Welsh took an early grip of the game and although the second half was more of a contest it was all done and dusted by half time as another familiar story played out. Twenty-five nil at the interval reflected Welsh’s early dominance - a penalty from fly-half Aled Thomas, two tries from fullback Paul Sampson, with the impressive Tom Brown at No. 8 grabbing the final score of the half from a close range scrum.

“London Welsh are a pretty efficient side” commented Head Coach Earnshaw “they had a simple game plan and whilst players stepped up last week [against Bristol] they didn’t this week.” That they didn’t brought about substantial change at half-time – Toby Freeman, Adam Clayton, Sam Brown and Jack Preece all appearing to provide some all-important go-forward and stability in the set-piece.

Bees’ ambition however was rudely cut short when busy Welsh scrum-half, Erie Claasens intercepted a promising attack from the visitors two minutes into the second half to sprint home from 60m out. Thomas duly converted to extend the scoreline to a miserable thirty-two nil before Bees eventually kick-started some semblance of play.

Bees outstanding centre from last season, Cameron Mitchell, on his return from long term injury worked some magic from Gordon Ross’ loose ball to present for Ronnie Mclean and with pace to burn the wing-man with some ease out-stripped his opposite number to dot down under the posts, adding the extras himself to post Bees first score of the game (7-32).

That Welsh were able to respond with such apparent ease – Brown again crashing over from the back of a rolling maul in the sixty-seventh minute (7-37) – will be cause for concern, but conversely Bees continued to play, a consolation try for Rod Petty registering more as a strong show of defiance than anything else, which is exactly what Bees will need in spades in order to get their season back on track.

“We were awful in the first half and a bit better in the second, there are positives to take from our second half performance and we must work on those against Nottingham” added Earnshaw.

To see Bees versus London Welsh match photography click here.

						Action timeline
Team		BEES SCORER	TYPE	TIME	TYPE	OPPOSITION SCORER	SCORE
1. Craig Voisey				10	P	Thomas	0-3
2. George Thomas				11	T	Sampson	0-8
3. Dan Seal				11	C	Thomas	0-10
4. Shaun Pammenter				19	P	Thomas	0-13
5. Stuart Ault				21	T	Sampson	0-18
6. Chris Brightwell				32	T	Brown	0-23
7. Russell Earnshaw				33	C	Thomas	0-25
8. Leo Halavatau
				42	T	Claassens	0-30
9. Jimmy Williams				42	C	Thomas	0-32
10. Rod Petty		Mclean	T	59			5-32
11. Ronnie Mclean		Mclean	C	59			7-32
12. Cameron Mitchell				67	T	Brown	7-37
13. Ryan Tomlinson		Petty	T	71			12-37
14. Simon Hunt
15. Reece Spee
16. Matt Long (Voisey 50)
17. Alex Davidson (Pammenter 64)
18. Toby Freeman (Ault 40)
19. Adam Clayton (Halavatau 40)
20. Jack Preece (Thomas 40)
21. Sam Brown (Williams 40)
22. Mitch Culpin

END

return to top