Old Covs 10 Bees 29

First visit to the old Covs ground for FCB and with Ethan's trip to the wing last week he was keen to bulk up and test the kitchen skills with a pre match bacon butttie. Arriving well before 10 coach Beer made the days first smart decision to park away from the pitch, something we will go into later.
The Bees U15 have been treated to some cracking early season pitches and this one was no different thanks to sharing the ground with a bowling club and groundsman no dought. To top this off the weather continued its Sunny Sunday tag line so as set up goes things we're looking good from the off. Then karma kicked in..... firstly with arrival of the Covs and Wasps academy number 8 and then the realisation that both sides kit seemed to be cut from the same cloth. The Issue was resolved with Old Covs jumping into the 1stXV green away kick , more worryingly was the fact that it was a good fit most of Covs pack!
Thanks to a mix of early nights form the lads and sun worshipping parents we had a good 50 min warmup and prematch catch-up with the lads. Down Joe with a broken arm and captain fantastic Alex whom had wrestled one too many alligators this week once again the our Bees showed flexibly with The Mighty Finn dropping back to play sweeper and with the return is Sam on the wing the Bees front row were returned to full menicing strength.
Will kicked off things off for the Bees , early exchanges from the forwards saw Bees quicker to the breakdown with Dan over the ball securing a solid platform for Joe to feed his hungry midfield. After 3 susessive knock ons the Bees provided Covs some dangerous territory in the middle of there half, Bees forwards responded by winning the first 2 against the head (assisted by the Cov lose head offering his ribs as target practice) however the third was spun wider to the Covs 14 whom slipped the first tackle and ran in the games first unconverted try.

From the kick off Bees again had the edge in the breakdown with some tidy mauling however smart decision number 2 of the day was the change in the attack focus moving the ball away from a threatening Covs back line and to use Will and Cody as per last week to cut inside and challenge the Covs forwards to a dance off and new Bees move "The Mike Brown". Camped on their own 5 metre line Covs won the put in and secured the ball however the battle of the nines continued with Rocket Rogers picking the pocket like something out of a Dickens classic darting over the line to even up the scores. Kody then introduced Coventry to his dynamic running game with try's firstly up the middle and then backing his pace took on 2 Cov speedsters to bring the half to an end with class.
HT Old Covs 5 Bees 17
The second half was a more cagey affair with Covs back row putting together some inpresive rumbles, hard work from Olli James and Elliot slowed them enabling a numbers to clean things up and defuse the threat. After 10 mins of no score Mac introduce the entertained crowd to a new game of car airial assault with a number of clearances from his boot. From a coaches prospective it was impressive to see the lads start to control and dictate the pace of the game, line outs and scrums were tidy and second phase ball was being introduced with direct runs from most of the 8 with ball placement and support a marked improvement from last week. Also great to see all our front row take it in turns at the front of each breakdown with low body positions.
As the game moved into the final qter Bees managed to hold Cov up in 2 separate attempts at grounding , scores that could have swung the game away from the visitors however Will and Mac were determined to play ball at the other end and both continued to punch holes allowing for the forwards to build up some steam. The final 5 mins saw two more try's for Kody and the Bees with the last being a coaches delight of 4 phase forward play sucking in most of the Cov line enabling a 5 to 2 mismatch for a through the hands walk in . Covs secured the games final try with an great 8 pick up from a 5m scrum.

FT. Old Covs 10 Bees 29

MoM Joe Rogers.

What Worked Well - On the ball decision making
Take back to the paddock - Driving past the man and ball