BOURNVILLE CONSOLIDATE WITH BONUS POINT WIN

For their last match of 2011 Bournville travelled to bottom place Bedworth before the Christmas break. Although bottom of the league Bournville new that the opposition should not be taken lightly especially on home soil. Bournville were again forced into changes with Rob Sigley, Adrian Maynard, Ceri Myers and Paul Cox coming back into the starting line-up. This match also saw the return of last season’s captain and player of the season Thomas McIntosh.

In wet and muddy conditions Bedworth started as if they were the team at the top of the league with some incisive runs from their pack. Bedworth were breaking a number of tackles and piling the pressure on an out of sorts Bournville side. Their pressure was rewarded after a number of pick and drives close to the Bournville line when their second row went over for the first try of the match. Bournville needed to get into the game and cope with the physicality of the Bedworth players. This soon boiled over with Bedworth’s scrum half being sin binned for throwing a punch.  Soon after this Bournville were able to apply some pressure of their own. A quick tap penalty from Rod Petty whilst the Bedworth defence was disorganised gave Bournville their first score, converted by Alex Warner.

As the half went on Bournville started to assert their dominance up front, with Rob Griffin and Hesy Fakatou running strongly through the Bedworth defence. A line out close to the Bedworth line was well taken by Nick Southern and a tight driven maul resulted in a score for Rob Sigley. Bournville seemed to relax after this score and allowed Bedworth back into the match. Bournville defended well in part, Dan Barratt making the biggest hit of the day on Bedworth’s winger. Bedworth continued to come back into the game and as the half drew to a close Bournville’s defence deserted them as it had done at the start of the match. Bedworth ran through loose tackles and their No. 8 scored under the posts. This was converted to give Bedworth the half time lead, 14-12.

After a stern half time team talk, Bournville knew they had to improve their performance to get the win they need. The only change at half time was Charlie Maunder coming on to replace the dazed Dan Barratt. Bournville started the second half well with Charlie running hard and straight at the Bedworth defence giving the forwards a target. Bedworth were beginning to look tired and started giving away more penalties. After a kick to the corner Bournville again set up a driving maul and Rob Sigley scored his second try of the match. Bournville could see the opportunity to stretch their lead and continued to apply pressure, spreading the ball wide to stretch the Bedworth defence. After a number of phases Nick Southern popped up on the winger to run in Bournville’s fourth try of the match.

Bournville continued to look for more tries to put the game out of reach but a number of handling errors and silly mistakes stifled potential scoring opportunities. Bedworth still felt they could get something out of the match and after a Bournville infringement they kicked a penalty reduce the lead to only 5 points. Bournville needed a big effort and finished the match with a flowing backs move, Ceri Myers showing good pace down the wing to score in the corner in what was his last appearance, ably converted by Rod Petty to give Bournville the win.

After the match all of the travelling Bournville supporters were relieve as well as the coaching staff. Michael Palmer summed up the performance, “All I'll say is 5 points in the bag, mission accomplished. Here's to getting everyone fit again and winning all our remaining 12 league games.”

Bournville begin 2012 with a home fixture against local side Camp Hill. Last time out Bournville won this fixture 70 -17 with some great free flowing rugby. This rematch would be harder as Camp Hill are starting to show the form that took them to 4th in the league last season.

Bournville line-up: 1. Paul Coles, 2. Phil Brown, 3. Rob Sigley, 4. Hesy Fakatou, 5. Dai Hallmen, 6. Rob Griffin, 7. Adrian Maynard, 8. Nick Southern, 9. Rod Petty, 10. Alex Warner, 11. Ceri Myers, 12. Paul Cox, 13. Carl Colvin, 14. Dan Barratt, 15. Chris Humphrey, 16. Thomas McIntosh, 17. Pete Nancarrow, 18. Charlie Maunder STANDOUT PLAYERS: Rob Sigley

Match report by Dicko. Match pics by Sully - click here.