BIRMINGHAM & SOLIHULL Bees claimed crucial points for their season as they fought for an 18-0 victory over Worthing Raiders on Saturday.
With the pitch very heavy underfoot following continual rain across the weekend, it set up for a very gritty contest between the two sides.
An opening quarter of the game was as to be expected, with both sides full of energy but cancelling each other out in the rough conditions, but most impressive for Bees was the strength of the defensive pack who held firm.
The Raiders too were adept at cancelling out Birmingham’s attacking threat and claimed a number of knock-ons and turnovers of possession, but would be downed by Jack Jolly’s penalty to kick his side into a 3-0 lead on 18 minutes.
That would set the scoreboard ticking over, as Andy Weaver added points for the hosts with an unconverted try that derived from a driving maul.
Matt McLean went closest for Worthing when he looked to run onto his own lofted punt upfield, but when lifting over the last defender, the bounce of the ball fell back into Bees hands and they were able to clear.
The Raiders looked to restart the game after the interval with fresh impetus to attack, but would be pegged further back by the resilient Bees when Jolly kicked a second penalty to give the hosts an 11-0 lead.
The away side were dominant in possession but just could not find a way through the Birmingham & Solihull defensive line despite the frequent forays into their territory.
And to cap off the fantastic effort to shut out the Raiders, Umraan Jadwatt crossed the line for a try with Jolly successfully kicking the conversion for maximum points to make it 18-0 right at the death.
Raiders were dominating territory and possession but couldn’t cross the Bees’ try line. Chances were created but a combination of errors and good defence prevented the visitors getting on the scoreboard.
The result sees the Bees still lying in relegation trouble, but a win closer to building momentum and finding their way out of their current plight.
Next up is a trip to Redruth – who sit in tenth, on Saturday (2pm) in National 2 South.
