Bees not at the races at Towcester

The Bees left Northamptonshire with nothing to show from their first visit to newly promoted Towcestrians, going down 30-11 in a game that they let their hosts dominate and made far too many errors.

The opening 15 minutes were played at a high tempo, although both sides were guilty of making basic handling errors. Bees were first on the scoreboard with a Mitch McGahan penalty – the Kiwi, playing at full back under clubbed his first effort from the light rough, but made amends with his second attempt three minutes later.

Towcester were soon to open their account after 17 minutes with a try from blindside flanker Keiran Frost, who was a thorn in the visitor’s side all afternoon. The genesis of the score was from an unforced Bees’ error at the restart – sadly this would prove to be a recurring theme.

Matters were made worse for Bees on the 24-minute mark with prop Joe Foreman sent to the bin for needlessly preventing Tows scrum half Gus Hopewell taking a quick tap penalty. Referee Dave Huson’s whistle – much in evidence throughout the game - penalised the Bees’ defensive line for being offside just three minutes later and the visitors found themselves 8-3 down thanks to the boot of full back Matt Yuill.

A McGahan drop goal reduced the deficit to just two points, but Towcester were to extend their lead when No.8 Jamie Warr scored the first of a brace of tries under the posts after a nifty offload from hooker Jorden Brew. Yuill provided further unwelcome tidings for the Bees with the regulation conversion.

The Bees had a gilt-edged chance to cross the whitewash themselves before the break, set up by some aggressive tackling by Mikey Whettell who sustained a rib injury in the process. However the catch and drive from the lineout close to the Towcester try line was fluffed and the score remained at 15-6 at half time.

Despite immediately putting pressure on themselves by not dealing with the restart, the Bees got their first and only try of the afternoon just 4 minutes into the second period. Max Rodman – making his first start at 10 - scythed through the Towcester defence to put winger Alex O’Malley in for a score in the bottom left hand corner. Although McGahan couldn’t slot the tricky conversion, at 15-11 it looked for a fleeting moment as if the Bees could finally get into their stride.

However another howler at the restart gifted Yuill a second successful penalty, with the tide further turning seven minutes later with a second try from Jamie Warr. The video replay will make for hard watching, with the ball kicked aimlessly down the throat of the grateful Yuill, the error further compounded by what at best could be described as half-hearted tackling.

From this point on, the Bees never really looked as if they had either the intensity, guile or indeed the discipline to overturn a two score deficit. Their increasing frustration with the interpretation of the laws of the game through the prism of referee Huson gained Danny Wright a yellow card, who was joined in the sin bin shortly afterwards by Rodman, as Towcester were awarded a penalty try and with it the bonus point.

With Yuill making no mistake with the simple conversion, 13 men Bees would have been glad to hear the final whistle blown with the full time score line at 30-11.

Injuries and unavailability meant that Pete Glackin and Ben Woods were forced into a number of personnel and positional changes after their win against Bedford Athletic last week. However there was certainly enough experience and firepower on the pitch to make this game winnable and the coaching duo will certainly be hoping that this was just a bad day at the office, rather than the start of a worrying trend.

Another difficult away game is in store next weekend, as the Bees travel to Bridgnorth to face a side who have won two of their first three league outings thus far.

Birmingham & Solihull Bees:- (1) Dan Toth (2) Louis Addleton (3) Joe Foreman (4) Chris Goddard © (5) Danny Wright (YC) (6) Ashley Scriven (7) Tom Price (8) Matt Tibbats (9) Charlie Mumford (10) Max Rodman (YC) (11) Dan Barrett (12) Mikey Whettell (13) Jimmy Oliver (14) Jevon Hinds (15) Mitch McGahan (P,DG). Replacements:- (16) Kurtis Payne (17) Michael Stephens (18) Alex O’Malley (T).
Referee:- Dave Huson