Not Flip Flop Weather

Cold wind and lots of drizzle, so all set up for a feast of running rugby at Bees first outing to Willenhall and their oppositions U16/17 side.
Bees start kicking deep and earn early reward with a turnover in the 22. A quick drive before the ball is out to midfield for the first knock on. Bees turnover the Willenhall scrum Lewis B picks up at 8 and breaks the defence to go over. Noah converts for 0-7 2 minutes in.
Willenhall restart with Bees setting up a maul before sending the ball into midfield. Bees recycle on halfway and Tom J makes a further break into the 22 but progress halted with a knock on. Willenhall secure possession from the scrum and kick. A Bees knock on gives Willenhall a scrum on their 10m. Willenhall secure possession and kick, the wind and slope helping the ball go dead. Bees secure possession from the scrum but knock on midfield. Willenhall knock on in their midfield following the next scrum. Yes we could be in for one of those games. Bees secure quick ball from their scrum sent out quickly and accurately for Noah to break through at outside centre and go under the posts. Noah then converts for 0-14 7 minutes in.
The next 12 minutes or so were played mainly in the Willenhall half with lots of scrummaging practice for but Bees edging the possession an territory preventing Willenhall exploiting the slope or wind. Deadlock nearly broken with a break from Tom J but his offload was held so another scrum. Willenhall take but knock on in midfield but Bees pressure with advantage played seeking Bees earn turnover ball sent out wide for Noah to go through. 0-19 19 minutes in.
Bees collect Willenhalls restart but a high box kick gets into the wind and Bees go offside. Willenhall run getting close but from deep in their 22 Bees go wide. Some strong running and recycling sees them go quickly up field and further strong running and a couple of offloads later Dec goes over for possibly the best score of the game. 0-24 22 minutes in.
For the remainder of the half Willenhall started to make better use of the wind and slope pushing play mainly into the Bees half. A scuffle later and Lewis H gets a yellow and Sam finishes his game for the day. All a bit messy but 2 cards to none looked a bit harsh. Willenhall take the points from the resulting penalty for 3-24. Bees were really up against it for the remainder of the half but a strong defensive display let them see out the half without conceding further.
For the second half the wind and slope made up for the shortfall in numbers and Bees camp in the Willenhall half and then deep into the 22. A 7 man scrum 5m meant no 8 for a pick up but quick ball into midfield sees Tom J go through and over on 36 minutes. Noah converts for 3-31.
I think it was 6 resets at the next scrum! Ball back into hand after Willenhall go offside from a broken scrum and Bees kick to touch into the 22. Bees secure possession from a messy lineout Some close action later sees the ball out to Lewis B to go through traffic and over. 42 minutes in and Noah converts for 3-38.
For the remainder of the half Willenhall had their best period when using their big lads and keeping it tight gave them hard earned yards. But for both conditions meant anything into space needed precision and Bees delivered this first for PJ to go over 47 minutes in. Noah converting for 3-45. The final score achieved through a combination of Bees pressure and opportunism from Noah picking up a loose ball in midfield to go through and over. Noah converts for 3-52.
Not a glorious feast of rugby unless you are a real purist, but the occasional bit of sparkle and some impressive defence gave Bees a strong result.