Birmingham & Solihull Bees beat Nuneaton to claim record fourth consecutive league win - The Solihull Observer

Birmingham & Solihull Bees beat Nuneaton to claim record fourth consecutive league win

Solihull Editorial 17th Feb, 2016 Updated: 21st Oct, 2016   0

WINNING is a habit and one that the Birmingham & Solihull Bees have seemingly acquired quite a taste for after they beat Nuneaton at home 17-7 to claim their fourth successive league win.

The home side had the majority of possession in the first half, but they could not convert this into territorial advantage or indeed points on the board.

Fly half Mitch McGahan had slotted over an early penalty after just three minutes, but a resilient a well-organised Nuneaton defence absorbed everything that the Bees subsequently threw at them.

They did so even when they went down to 14 men, when lock forward Matt Gibbs was sent to the sin bin for a minor altercation with his opposite number Matt Spink.




Whilst the Bees chose – for the main part – to play ten-man rugby, centre Mikey Whettell and winger Alex O’Malley both showed promising glimpses of what they could do when they did manage to get hold of the ball.

What little possession they had, Nuneaton looked the more dangerous side in attack when they fed the ball out wide to their nimble backline.


With the first half ending with the Bees in the ascendency but just 3-0 to the good, it was Nuneaton who appeared to be more determined to move up through the gears in the early stages of the second period.

And their efforts were rewarded with a penalty try from a scrum on their hosts’ five-metre line 20 minutes in, with fly half O’Brien slotting over the regulation conversion.

And when Mitch McGahan missed a second penalty attempt there was a real possibility that the Nuns could have grabbed the game by the scruff of the neck.

Yet McGahan quickly atoned for his place kicking shortcomings by snatching an interception try from 40 metres out and, with it, swung the pendulum of the game right back in the home sides’s favour at 10-7.

With McGahan’s line kicking game now on song, the line-out working sweetly and the driving maul elevated to a near art form, the Bees scored a second and decisive try. Alex O’Malley showed his poacher’s instincts to take the offload from his skipper to score under the posts.

Although there was still ten minutes left on the clock, the Bees were home and hosed at 17-7, McGahan slotting over his second conversion and bagging the Man of the Match award in the process.

A trip to second placed Old Halesonians will provide the next examination for the resurgent Bees next Saturday (20th February, KO 2.15pm).

Printing

We can provide all of your printing needs at competitive rates.

Reader Travel

Check out all of the latest reader travel offers to get your hands on some free gifts.

Advertising

Advertise with the Solihull Observer to reach your audience

Recruitment

Find a career you'll love with our free career finder website.