Bourns weather storm for bonus point win

Bournville 24  Hornets 12

Bournville put some daylight between themselves and the National Two West relegation places with a hard-earned – but fully deserved – bonus points win at Avery Fields.

Bournville had to weather not just Storm Elin, which blew down the pitch from the clubhouse end throughout, but a plucky Hornets side who were equally desperate to end the first half of their league campaign with a win.

It may not have been pretty but Bournville showed plenty of character and composure to secure a third win of the season – and collect a 14^th bonus point – with the pack again in dominant form.

With Stefan Thorp a destructive force in the front row and Nick Murphy a constant menace in the tight and the loose, Bournville starved Hornets for long periods of the match, most significantly in the second period when the Somerset club had the gale at their backs.

The win should have been more emphatic but Bournville, having eased into a 10-0 lead inside the first ten minutes when they had the wind behind them, could not convert 25 minutes of relentless pressure into more points.

They probably should have been awarded a penalty try after Hornets crumpled at a series of five metres scrums and lost loosehead prop Connor Baker to the sin bin.

But Hornets somehow held out and scored against the run of play when number eight George Timmins gathered at the back of a lineout on the 22 and galloped clear for a soft try.

An impassioned speech from Murphy at the interval appeared to do the trick and Bournville began the second-half as they had the first, testing Hornets with a series of sustained attacks.

Idehen got his second try of the match when he caught Hornets napping by tapping and running a free kick close to the line with Rhys Williams adding a difficult conversion into the wind.

Hornets responded with a second try from Timmins, from a charged-down clearance kick, but Bournville managed the game superbly thereafter with Sam Grimshaw sealing the win and the try bonus with a neatly taken try, using two men outside him as decoys then stepping back inside.

The win allowed Bournville to leapfrog Hornets into eleventh place with a big local derby against Dudley Kingswinford at Heathbrook to come next Saturday.

“It’s a massive five points for us against a team around us. Even more import they got zero out of the game,” said Head Coach Matt Price.

“We left a few tries out there, however, the momentum was fully with us throughout the whole game.

“Our scrum dominated, I can’t remember how many scrum penalties we got. We should have had a penalty try I think but things happen.

“What was pleasing is that at half-time, having conceded right at the end of the first-half, we didn’t come out heads down. We took it to them and dominated the second-half as well.

“Another major thing for us was our physicality. We bullied them and that’s what we need to do. In this league if you don’t bully sides you are not going to win the ball and you are not going to have ot easy.

“Nick Murphy had his best game in the shirt by a long mile. He also gave a bit of a speech at half-time about how much he loves this club and that he didn’t want to come in at the end of the match wondering; what if?

“After that everyone was very clear what we had to do and it was very pleasing that we went out there and did it.

“We have to kick on. We will enjoy today but next week we have a local derby that is massive for us. Today will mean nothing if we don’t back it up next week. The whole train starts again on Tuesday doesn’t it?”