Life is seldom a bed of roses – even on Valentine’s Day - as the Bees found to their cost as a last gasp Chester try by Rhys Hayes condemned the men from Portway to a narrow 21-25 defeat, costing them a vital three league points in the process.

Chester came into the game in joint third position in the league but the heavy Portway pitch quickly dispelled any romantic notions of free flowing rugby. It took the visitors just 6 minutes to open their account with a try for winger Craig Ross, with fly half Hayes adding the conversion.

Once they had got some poor kicking from the hand out of their system, the Bees started to make some headway, their forwards more than a match for Chester in the muddy conditions. Canning made a trademark break and chipped through, but Bees old boy Tom Foden was on hand to tidy up and relieve the pressure. The home side’s industry was eventually rewarded after 17 minutes, when mercurial full back Ian Briggs profited from a classy break from centre Steve Johns. Canning’s right boot leveled the scores at 7-7.

Hayes put Chester back in the lead four minutes later with a penalty when Dai Evans was adjudged to have handled on the floor. However the Bees faithful, who had opted for the bracing live action rather than televised Six Nations coverage in the clubhouse, sensed the tide was beginning to turn as Eugene Martin’s men began to dominate both territory and possession in the last ten minutes of the half.

That dominance was to continue into the second half, as the Bees kept possession and patiently worked through the phases. Against the run of play, Craig Ross bagged his second try of the game after a nice break by full back Sean Green.

However, this seemed only to strengthen the men in black’s resolve and the Bees started to get their driving maul game going. Ian Briggs came close to getting a second score and winger Aquile Smith had a try disallowed for a forward pass. The impressive winger finally got himself on the score sheet five minutes later, when Rob Connolly stripped a ball from a Chester maul and fed Smith, who galloped home from a furlong out, riding out the covering tackles.

With Canning slotting the conversion, at 14-15 the momentum was seemingly now with the Bees, particularly as an excellent defensive effort was preventing Chester from making any meaningful progress into the Bees half. Another Hayes penalty gave the visitors some briefing space, but then a fine break from Canning saw the talismanic fly half score under the posts. With the extras added, this gave the Bees a 21-18 lead with just two minutes to go, much to the rapture of the home support.

Two minutes has proved to be a long time for the Bees this season and ecstasy was to be turned into utter dejection as Hayes, who hadn’t put a foot wrong all game, wove his way through a tiring Bees defence to score under the posts, breaking many a local heart in the process. His conversion – the last kick of the game - brought the final score to 21-25 and left the Bees with just a losing bonus point to provide a crumb of comfort.

The Bees travel to Harrogate next week (Saturday 21st February) and will hope that they can translate the many positives from the Chester game into further vital league points.

Teams

Birmingham & Solihull – Ian Briggs (T), Aquile Smith (T), Steve Johns, Rob Connolly, Dai Evans, Adam Canning (T, 3C), Rod Petty, Steve Leach, Ashley Scriven, Rob Gregg, Chris Goddard ©, Henno Venter, Liam Dunne, Will Crane and Pete Koziot. Replacements – Andy Kettle, Mitch Lee, Jack Linnett, Charlie Ding and Alex O’Malley.

Chester – Sean Green, Craig Ross (2T), Max Himbury, Tom Foden, John Ketland, Rhys Hayes (T, 2P, 2C), Matt Walsh, David Ford, Michael Craven, Luke Wishnowsky, William Bown, Jo Kyle, James Whitelock-Wainwright, Chris Farrell, Gavin Woods. Replacements – Gareth Smith, Paul Sherlock, Peter Rees and Carwyn Williams.

Referee – Chris Bennett