The Bees suffered a comprehensive 41-10 defeat at the hands of high flying Hinckley, leaving the visitors winless from the first three games of the season.

Hinckley – who maintained their unbeaten record with the win - scored six tries in total, four of them in the first forty minutes as their pack took full advantage of the somewhat laissez-faire approach from the match referee. Although the Bees were far more competitive in the second half, the fate of the game had been effectively sealed by half time.

Ironically, it was the Bees who started the brighter despite losing Ashley Scriven to the blood bin early on, retaining the ball well and putting early pressure on the Hinckley defence. However, once the visitors got hold of the ball, they scored with their first attack of game through their combative No.8 and skipper Alex Salt.

Jack Jolly – playing at scrum half – put an early penalty chance wide and Hinckley added insult to injury just three minutes later when their full back Callum Dacey finished off more good work by both forwards and backs to score in the right hand corner. It was second time lucky as fly half Mark Lord added the extras to make it 12-0.

The home side’s continued dominance was further rewarded nine minutes later, with another try in the corner – this time from winger Sam Driver after Lord had stolen the ball in midfield. Another Lord conversion extended the lead to 19-0 and things were beginning to look ominous for the Bees, as they made a number of replacements in the pack in an attempt to stem the tide.

With Hinckley now being penalised more by the referee, the Bees began to grind through the gears, led by a number of charges from by Steve Leach. A well struck Jolly penalty finally got the visitors on the scoreboard, but the supremacy of the Hinckley driving maul was underlined when Salt scored his second try on the stroke of half time, bagging the try bonus point in the process. Lord’s conversion made it 26-3 at half time.

The Bees started the second half with more resolve, seemingly determined not to be bullied in the same way as they had been in the first. With both Matt Spink and Hinckley blindside flanker Matt Fearns shown yellow cards for scuffling, the Bees earned themselves a deserved penalty try after some good work upfront. Jolly duly converted to narrow the deficit to 26-10.

This ostensibly galvanized the home side and, restored to 15 men, Hinckley set about with renewed attacking intent. A fantastic covering tackle by industrious Bees’ centre Wayne Child saved a near certain try in the corner. An important moral victory was then achieved, as further good defensive work by Matthew’s men saw Hinckley opt for the three points when awarded a penalty, rather than the go for the line out.

However a brace of relatively soft tries conceded in the last two minutes by a tiring Bees defence, firstly from scrum half Joe Glover who had impressed all afternoon, and secondly from centre Mitch Lamb – the latter converted by Lord - added gloss to the scoreline for the Hinckley and left much for the visitors to reflect on during their journey home.

Next weekend, the Bees come up against another side with a 100% record in National League 3 Midlands thus far, when they welcome Lichfield to Portway, kick off 3pm.