BIRMINGHAM and Solihull Bees returned to winning ways with a hard-fought 21-17 victory away at Claverdon.
First-half tries from Alex Groves, Cormach Papirnik and Deaglan O’Brien put the Bees in command with Cole Elleman converting all three scores at Ossetts Hole Lane.
And the result means Solihull sit fifth in the Counties 2 Midlands West (East) table after completing a league double over Claverdon.
The Bees welcomed back Brad Sinclair who last featured for the club in the Vase Cup final in May 2022 following a long injury lay off.
And the visitors made a fast start as the returning Groves scored the game’s first try on 13 minutes with Elleman adding the extras after sustained pressure on the Claverdon line.
Solihull struck again straight from the restart as Papirnik displayed power and strength on his way to the line with Elleman again converting.
Bees defended superbly to keep Claverdon at bay and forced an error from the home side as O’Brien collected a loose ball and ran 90-metres to score under the posts with Elleman adding the extras.
However, Claverdon responded with a converted try just before half time, pouncing on a Bees mistake, to reduce the deficit to 14 points.
And the home side further closed the gap between the two teams seven minutes into the second half as Claverdon burst through a gap in the Bees defence to score their second try.
Bees then lost full back PJ Hatch to the sin bin as Claverdon took advantage to run in their third try and reduce the deficit to a single score
However, Solihull stood firm despite losing Sinclair to the sin bin after Hatch returned to the field to secure a narrow victory.
Birmingham and Solihull are next in action at home against Coventrians on Saturday, February 3 with kick-off at 2.15pm at Portway.
