NATIONAL TWO: WATERLOO 16 BIRMINGHAM & SOLIHULL 52
Early morning Bees training sessions were key to their fog-affected eight try victory at Waterloo according to assistant coach Eugene Martin.
The Sharmans Cross Road side cruised to a convincing victory at National Division Two whipping boys Waterloo in a 70-minute encounter following referee Luke Pearce’s decision to bring proceedings to a premature end due to the heavy fog.
The Bees’ number two joked that the club’s 6.30am training sessions helped the players adjust to the difficult conditions.
He said: “It was a strange way to finish the game but the right one on the referee’s part.
“We certainly didn’t have a problem with it as he said that any result after 60 minutes would count.
“In a funny way we are used to playing in the fog and the dark due to our 6.30am training sessions on Tuesdays or Thursdays.”
The Bees ran in eight tries in only 50 minutes after making a lethargic start to the game.
Martin added: “Once again we started slowly and it seems to be that it takes 10 to 20 minutes for us to get started and so it proved at Waterloo.”
The league basement boys missed two great chances to score in the opening eight minutes but they did lead 3-0 courtesy of a Frank Lynch penalty.
This constant Waterloo pressure finally stung the high-flying visitors into action on the 20-minute mark.
Leading the Bees forward was captain Rob Connolly who broke from inside his own half before moving the ball onto hooker Ben Phillips who made space for Adam Clayton to score under the posts, which Mark Woodrow converted.
The visitors scored their second converted try only two minutes later when centre Cameron Mitchell scored between the posts.
O’Brien scored another penalty for the hosts before the Bees extended their lead when Reece Spree finished off a sweeping move for an unconverted try.
Waterloo closed the arrears yet again when O’Brien was successful with a third penalty.
The visitors added their fourth try of the afternoon through hooker Phillips, which was converted by Woodrow to give them a 26-9 half-time lead.
The Bees continued to dominate after the break and scored another four tries.
Mitchell was the first to go over for a converted try only two minutes after the resumption.
The hosts scored their only try on 47 minutes when Tom Davies touched down for a try converted by O’Brien.
Bees skipper Connolly scored a converted try almost immediately.
With the fog now sweeping, the Bees added a seventh try on 60 minutes, when Phillips burst free from a line-out to touch down for an unconverted second try.
A minute later good work from Connolly and Mitchell allowed Spee to sprint in for their eighth and last try of the game.
Waterloo: O’Brien, van der Venter, Payne, Duffy, McVeigh, Lynch (Hale, 26), Anderson ( Nolan, 61), O’Keefe, Gibney (Rylance, 46), Hall, Sykes, Harrington, Davies, Aigbokhae, Bell.
Bees: Spee, Hunt, Young, Mitchell, Culpin, Woodrow (Petty, 60), Brown, Long, Phillips, Davies (Voisey, 66), Pammenter, Orgee, Clayton (Brightwell, 62), Connolly, Halavatau.
