Bournville 40 Devonport Services 22
It says much about Bournville’s high expectations and standards that a bonus points home win was accompanied by frustration and disappointment.
Not so long ago Bourns would have settled for a win – any win – but having finished last season strongly and recruited shrewdly during the summer, sights have been set higher at Avery Fields.
There is an aspiration to play the game at a high tempo and at high intensity and there were glimpses of that here, notably in a 25-minute purple patch either side of half-time when Bournville put the game to bed.
But Sam Grimshaw’s superb individual try three minutes into the second-half proved to be Bournville’s sixth and last.
The next 37 minutes were forgettable, largely because Bournville got on the wrong side of referee Callum Watson who sin-binned Nick Murphy and Ben Meakin and penalised Bourns at almost every scrum.
If the match officials were correct, Devonport Services must have the best loosehead prop in the league because Stefan Thorp, who almost single-handed destroyed most scrums last season, was unable to exert any pressure here.
Or perhaps the sight of Thorp’s opposite number Rikki Bentham rising from the turf with a broad smile after Bourns had been penalised at a scrum for the umpteenth time painted a more accurate picture of what was really going on in the front row.
Whatever the rights and wrongs, Bournville became distracted, were unable to build any pressure and Services capitalised to score two tries from close range to head home with a try bonus point which would have been an unexpected bonus for the newly-promoted side in the first meeting between the clubs.
But when Bournville were at their best, Services could not live with them with Nathan Decalmer continuing where he left off last season with a brace of tries and Rob Knox, Freddie Morgan and Adam Shaw also crossing for first-half tries with Morgan adding five conversions.
Bournville had the try bonus point wrapped up by the 36th minute and were 40-12 clear when Grimshaw carved open the visitors’ defence, But for the rest of the match they became frustrated and lost their shape.
“On paper it’s exactly what we wanted, a bonus point win at home to start the season, but how got there wasn’t where we want to be,” said Head Coach Matt Price.
“I think we literally left 30-40 points out there. That’s no disrespect to Devonport but, with the quality we have, we should be taking out of any referee’s hands.
“That’s the most frustrating part about it. But, as I said to the boys afterwards, it’s five points at home which is exactly what we wanted.
“When we turned it on they couldn’t compete but we probably only really turned it on for 20-25 minutes.
“We have left a lot out there but there are some new boys who have come in and slotted in really well.
“But we know there is a lot more. That’s where this group has moved on. Before we would have been really happy with that whereas now we are frustrated by that.
“But we are looking forward to Macclesfield next week. It will be another challenge to go away from home.
“They are another newly-promoted side. They are a good side at home, they will come at us up front. I just hope that we are allowed to do what we want to do up front.”
Of the seven newcomers in the matchday squad, centre Knox was always physical, number eight Jasper Smith carried well and tidied up at the rear of a sometimes scrappy lineout.
Fly-half James Mann was unfortunate to suffer a gashed head in the first-half but Bourns were fortunate to have the experienced Jacob Fewtrell on the bench and he proved a calming influence when things were getting fractious in the second-half.
Morgan, the most recent recruit, was busy at scrum-half and also landed five conversions, Shaw tackled and carried hard and Chad Thorne had a busy game without upsetting the match officials.
*To complete a successful weekend for Bournville the Thirds beat their Bromsgrove counterparts 46-24 to make it a clean sweep.
Image courtesy of Lee Sullivan
