Bournville were left to count the cost of a battering by Clifton in their latest National Two West match of the season.
As well as going down to their heaviest defeat of the season – 54-14 – Bourns lost captain Ben Meakin with suspected concussion after he took a knee to the head after 15 minutes and fly-half Joe Nellany with a a suspected fractured collarbone ten minutes later.
Bourns had already lost replacement prop Kurtis Payne, who tested positive for Covid on the morning of the match, which meant that Head Coach Matt Price had to name himself as a replacement.
Price made a cameo appearance for the last 15 minutes of the match which was his first rugby for more than five years.
Bournville now face Macclesfield at Avery Fields in their final match before the festive break seeking to end a run of five successive defeats and the chance to then rest some battered bodies.
“We are down to bare bones we really are. Me being on the bench for example, that’s not what I want to be doing,” Price said.
“What we have to remember with this group is that they are all good lads. We have just got to buy into what we do at training on Tuesday and Thursday and stick to the game plan and what we know we can do. If we go off that we don’t play as well as we should.”
Bournville’s injury problems and unavailability meant that they had to travel to Clifton with a patched-together side and although they competed well for the first 30 minutes, they struggled to cope with the physicality and organisation of the home side in the second-half.
“We just weren’t as physical as them. We didn’t get into our shape early enough and we were always second to the ball,” Price said.
“It was disappointing but Clifton are a quality side. They have a big pack and big centres and if you give them time on the ball they will run hard and they did.
“Leading up to half-time I thought we were in it. At half-time we challenged them to be more physical and not to give them any time on the ball. Unfortunately we didn’t do that.
“Clifton all know what they are doing, they all know what their shape is and they all know what their lines are.
“At times today we didn’t know what shape we were going into when you don’t know that you go into no-man’s land and get lost.”
