Perfect 10

Bees travelled up to Stoke knowing a tough fixture was guaranteed. Playing with a slight wind and more obvious slope in the first half Bees dominated possession and territory in a convincing first half display. An early try (7 mins) for Corry followed several phases of forward play. Cole standing in at 10 produced the kick of a visionary to release the pacey Tomo on the right hand side. Football skills and a tidy pick up produced the second score with Ben adding the extras.
Stoke then produced their best period of the game so far , advancing to Bees 22. A penalty ensued and Stoke opted to take the 3. 12-3.
Bees responded with another score as a break down the right sucked in the opposition defence, some quick hands from Bees followed enabling Holsey to elegantly slide in under the sticks. The conversion followed to make the score line 19-3.
With the momentum being maintained by Bees another try shortly followed with good continuity allowing Jonno to crash over on the right. An impressive conversion by Aggi making it 26-3 with half time approaching. Despite the pressure continuing for the remainder of the half, the increasingly resilient Stoke defence held firm.

With Bees knowing a tough second half against the slope was to follow they knew getting a good start would be vital. This was duly achieved with an impressive skillset from the visitors allowing Dec to breeze over in the corner. 31-3. Although over 30 minutes still remained this was the last venture into the opposing 22 for Bees. A stern defensive effort was now required, although almost 30 points down Stoke rallied to truly put Bees under the pump. A break down the right wing unlocked the Bees defence before Aggi came across with what appeared to be a fantastic tap tackle, but a bewildered Bees saw the referee under the posts for a penalty try for a perceived trip. 31-10.
With the pressure mounting Bees struggled to gain territory and with 13 minutes to go Stoke forced their way over to make it 31-15. Despite Stoke dominating possession in the Bees half the defence held strong, but with 5 to go the opposition increased the tempo and again crossed the whitewash. 31-20.
With only 90 seconds to go Nathan once again put his body on the line for his team and sustained an injury that caused the game to be ended

Thank you to Stoke for hosting such a fantastic game of rugby.

And of course best wishes to Nathan in hospital, get well soon.

Noah Heward