A LACKLUSTRE performance saw Birmingham & Solihull Bees leave Northamptonshire-based Towcestrians empty handed after they went down to a 30-11 defeat in the National League 3 Midlands.
Bees were first on the scoreboard with a Mitch McGahan penalty but Towcester were soon to open their account after 17 minutes with a try from blindside flanker Keiran Frost, who was a thorn in the visitor’s side all afternoon.
Matters were made worse for Bees on the 24-minute mark with prop Joe Foreman sent to the bin for needlessly preventing Tows scrum half Gus Hopewell taking a quick tap penalty.
Referee Dave Huson’s whistle penalised the Bees’ defensive line for being offside just three minutes later and the visitors found themselves 8-3 down thanks to the boot of full back Matt Yuill.
A McGahan drop goal reduced the deficit to just two points, but Towcester were to extend their lead when No.8 Jamie Warr scored the first of a brace of tries under the posts after a nifty offload from hooker Jorden Brew. Yuill provided further unwelcome tidings for the Bees with the regulation conversion.
The Bees had a gilt-edged chance to cross the whitewash themselves before the break, set up by some aggressive tackling by Mikey Whettell who sustained a rib injury in the process. However the catch and drive from the lineout close to the Towcester try line was fluffed and the score remained at 15-6 at half time.
Despite immediately putting pressure on themselves by not dealing with the restart, the Bees got their first and only try of the afternoon just 4 minutes into the second period.
Max Rodman scythed through the Towcester defence to put winger Alex O’Malley in for a score in the bottom left hand corner. Although McGahan couldn’t slot the tricky conversion, at 15-11 it looked for a fleeting moment as if the Bees could finally get into their stride.
However another howler at the restart gifted Yuill a second successful penalty, with the tide further turning seven minutes later with a second try from Jamie Warr.
From this point on, the Bees never really looked as if they had either the intensity, guile or indeed the discipline to overturn a two score deficit. Their increasing frustration with the interpretation of the laws of the game through the prism of referee Huson gained Danny Wright a yellow card, who was joined in the sin bin shortly afterwards by Rodman, as Towcester were awarded a penalty try and with it the bonus point.
With Yuill making no mistake with the simple conversion, 13 men Bees would have been glad to hear the final whistle blown with the full time score line at 30-11.
The Bees travel to Bridgnorth to face a side who have won two of their first three league outings thus far.
