Bees look increasingly self assured in win against local rivals

As the clocks went back by an hour on Saturday evening, Bromsgrove will surely be wishing that they could go back in time to the start of BST on 30th March, when they were victorious in their most recent previous encounter with the Bees.

Fast forward to a dry and blustery 26th October and the comprehensive 40-12 victory shed further light on the progress being made by an increasing self-assured Birmingham & Solihull side.

It has been some time since the Bees have secured a try bonus point just 28 minutes into a game, but when Dai Evans scored his second try of the half after a lovely blindside break by Petty, the Portway side were already 26-7 to the good.

The first Bees’ try came after just two minutes from Will Radburn, fair reward for an excellent charge down by the Bees’ skipper just moments earlier. Winger Ian Briggs, who had taken on the kicking duties from the injured Adam Canning slotted the conversion.

The Bees’ coaching team had selected a very different backline from the one that had helped graft out an away win at Hull the previous week. Rod Petty had moved to fly half, with Chris Fensome coming in at scrum half. Debutant Scott Harman was also in for Oscar Heath who, like Canning, had picked up an ankle injury on his travels up in Humberside.

Petty was clearly relishing the “ringmaster” role bestowed upon him and it was a lovely break by the evergreen Aussie that put Dai Evans in for his first try after 11 minutes. The visitors would no doubt have been ruing their decision not to use the wind to their advantage and kick for touch. Instead they opted for quick tap ball, which was to lead to a turnover that Man of the Match Petty turned to the Bees’ advantage. Briggs added the extras to make the score 14 -0.

Bromsgrove bounced straight back three minutes later with a try from lock forward Matt Edgar, after an efficiently-worked rolling maul from a 22 line out. Critchlow stroked the conversion over to bring the score back to 14-7.

The home crowd didn’t have long to wait until the Bees’ third try – just 2 minutes in fact - and it was a score to savor. Fensome made the break, Matt Spink took the feed and then held several tacklers off before offloading to Rob Connolly, who swatted off a couple more defenders to bag the 5 points. Again this was fair reward for the Irishman, who stole the ‘Grove line out ball to start the move off in the first place. Briggs dragged the conversion attempt wide, but the score was now 19-7.

What perhaps the visitors lacked in forward power was certainly made up in competitive spirit and the men from Finstall Park continued to move the ball around and ask questions of the Bees’ defensive line. However, a combination of excellent work rate in the tackle from the home side and a number of unforced handling errors from the visitors put paid to several promising attacking moves.

The Dai Evans try on 28 minutes was to be the final score of the half, although the Bees were unlucky not be awarded a fifth score on the 36 minute mark when referee Wells was unable to determine if the ball had been grounded after a rolling maul. Just before the break ‘Grove flanker Will Crane was yellow carded for killing the ball at the breakdown. At 26-7 in arrears and with the prospect of playing into a strong wind in the second half with a man down, things were looking somewhat ominous for the visitors.

Again much to their credit, Bromsgrove showed resilience at the start of the second period - good defending saw Connolly just bundled into touch at a five-metre scrum, 4 minutes in. However, on 11 minute mark and with Will Crane restored to the fray, a lovely, wind-assisted cross field kick from Petty was well chased down by Dai Evans in the right hand corner, to give him a richly deserved hat trick. Another well-struck conversion from the boot of Briggs took the score to 33-7 and snubbed out any residual hopes of a comeback for the visitors.

Both sides emptied their respective subs benches and Joseph Mogaji, on for Scott Harman, scored a sixth try for the Bees in the 24th minute. The way he pinned his ears back and strode for the line, despite the attention of several tacklers, would have brought a smile to the Bees’ backroom staff. Briggs duly slotted over the conversion to make it 40-7.

Bromsgrove refused to throw in the towel though and their industry was rewarded by an uncoverted consolation try by Chris Morgan from another rolling maul on the 32-minute mark. Mogaji was yellow carded for a high tackle with just 5 minutes to go and with just one minute left on the clock, referee Graeme Wells wisely ended the game after ‘Grove winger Aaron Higgins required medical attention following an unfortunate clash in a tackle.

Bees’ DoR Eugene Martin would have every reason to be quietly purring over his porridge the morning after this impressive 40-12 victory. Birmingham & Solihull played with a confidence and a growing maturity of a side that knows each other well and, importantly, also now knows what it has the potential of achieving. The work rate and handling in the forwards was, at times, a thing of joy to behold and the tackling from every player in a Bees shirt was admirable. The excellent platform that resulted from the Bees’ forward power gave the backs the freedom to show just what they are capable of too, with ball in hand.

However, Eugene isn’t a man to let the squad get too far ahead of themselves and next Saturday will be another important staging post, as the Bees look to make it three wins in a row when they travel up to Harrogate.

Times change and the Bees now sit mid table with 20 points from 8 games. For Bromsgrove, with a haul of 9 from 8 and sitting just one point above the relegation zone, yesterday’s evidence would suggest that the mid winter could be a bit bleaker off Junction 1 of the M42 than it will be off Junction 3.