Bees under 11s vs Stourbridge

Having targeted the ruck as an area for improvement, it was great to see a huge improvement in the team’s rucking on Sunday. It was however not enough to save Bees from a heavy defeat at the hands of a very well-organised Stourbridge side. The good work that Bees employed in the breakdown area was unfortunately undone by the weak defensive performance whenever Stourbridge got the ball. With Bees missing or falling off tackles, Stourbridge were constantly crossing the gain line and, once behind the Bees’ defensive line they were very accurate with their ball distribution, moving the ball away from the tacklers to score some very well taken tries.
Conversely, Bees seemed uncharacteristically disjointed when they had possession. Passes were not sticking and time and again Bees took the ball into contact rather than spreading the ball away from the defence. Stourbridge’s defensive line constantly put pressure on Bees and Bees were pressured into mistakes. Unable to clear the line on a number of occasions, Bees gave away a few soft tries and Bees will need to think about their exit strategies in future games.
It was not all one way traffic however and Bees did manage to provide some moments to cheer. Every player grafted to the end and never gave up and indeed never stopped smiling. Positives came from the following areas: Louie, Will B, Moncef, Eddie, Josh and Joe showed real power in attack; Charlie and Will A displayed real determination at the breakdown; Tyler, Stephen and Curtis looked very swift with the ball in hand; Noah put in some long, well placed kicks; Luca showed the rest of the team how to tackle around the ankles and Oliver, Robert and Fraser jinked successfully to beat the first line of defence. What Bees need to do now is put all these successful components together.
Next week this is exactly what Bees will try to do as they face Old Hales at home.