BOURNVILLE COME UNSTUCK AT WALSALL

Bournville suffered only their third defeat of the season when they were outshone by a Walsall side who turned recent league form on its head. Director of Rugby Rob Sigley was forced to do without scrum-half Robbie Harlow, Chris Humphrey replacing the Kiwi behind the scrum. Mike Holmes and Steven Rice also came into the squad following strong performances for the second team.

For the rest of the half, Bournville struggled to gain any advantage. Ferocious home defence coupled with continued Bournville errors meant that Walsall were able to dominate field position and possession. When the visitors did enter Walsall territory, a stray final pass or an unforced error prevented them from sustaining any pressure. The score remained 5-3 at half-time.

Bournville seemed to be galvanised into action from the restart, and soon took the lead with another long-range Alex Warner penalty. The forwards started to compete with their opposition and on 55 minutes pressure on the Walsall line out gave Bournville centre Carl Colvin the chance to power over from 15m out. Warner’s conversion put Bournville 5-13 ahead and it seemed as though they were in the ascendancy.

Walsall were not to be taken so lightly and came back into the game with a swift counter-attack from a Bournville clearance kick. A chip and chase from the left winger put their fullback into space to cross the Bournville line untouched and made the score 10-13

Things got worse for Bournville when a missed tackle in midfield allowed the Walsall inside centre to break clear and feed his centre partner for another score and a 15-13 lead. With time ticking away from Bournville, a late Walsall penalty and drop goal put the result beyond doubt.

After the game, Director of Rugby Rob Sigley commented, “The result was a reflection of our poor performance today. From 1 to 15 we were outplayed by our opposition and we will need to improve in training this week if we are to continue our promotion challenge.” Bournville will look to get back on track next week with a trip to table-topping Burton who are unbeaten since the second match of the season when they were defeated at Rowheath in a tight encounter.

Bournville line-up:
1. Paul Coles, 2. Dean Bick, 3. Ian Coles, 4. Steve Smith, 5. Rob Griffin, 6. Adam Cristol, 7. Tom McIntosh (c), 8. Nick Southern, 9. Chris Humphrey, 10. Alex Warner, 11. Iestyn Pratt, 12. Fou, 13. Carl Colvin, 14. Adam Coniff, 15. Alex Ward, 16. Rob Sigley, 17. Mike Holmes, 18. Steven Rice.