Bournville make flying start to league campaign

Bournville 69 Nuneaton 7

Bournville made a flying start to the Regional One Midlands season with a thumping victory over Nuneaton at Avery Fields.

Bourns ran in 11 tries – seven of them in the second-half – in a superb display of controlled forward power and confident handling which banked the try bonus before half-time.

It was not entirely straightforward as Bournville lost centres Sam Grimshaw and Josh Bloomfield to injuries within five minutes of each other late in the first-half. With just forwards – three replacements only are permitted at this level – on the bench, it meant some re-organisation but it did nothing to disrupt Bournville’s dominance or attacking flair.

It was evident from an early stage the Bournville had supremacy in the scrums, with new props Danny Griffin and Jake Thompson dominant, and it was after a series of close-range scrums that Adam Shaw went over for the opening try after six minutes with Jacob Fewtrell adding the conversion into a tricky downfield wind.

Chris Idehen, playing his first league match in 11 months, was driven over midway through the first-half, with Fewtrell again adding the extras, and he was followed over by left-wing Adam Collingwood who squeezed in at the corner.

Nuneaton pulled back seven points with a converted try, which rewarded them for a period of sustained pressure, three minutes before the break but it was only a brief interruption to Bourns’ flow as Jonjo Fanning drove over from a lineout catch-and-drive with the final play of the first-half.

Bourns conceded a series of penalties in the first ten  minutes of the second-half which meant that they were tested in defence for a while. But they denied Nuneaton a score during that potentially difficult period and, with improved discipline, they scored with increasing frequency in the final 30 minutes.

Hooker Ben Rhodes went over for the fifth try with lock Harry Dawson battering his way through for the first of two tries, both of which Fewtrell converted.

Scrum-half Reiss Price then tapped and ran a penalty and scooted away for an individual score before debutant wing Mauro Miller sliced through the Nuneaton with a lovely break and sent Shaw, now playing on the right wing, over with Fewtrell adding the conversion to bring up the half-century.

Fanning and Dawson added their second tries and there was still time for Kieran Henderson to round off a brilliant attack in which backs and forwards combined effectively with Fewtrell adding his sixth and seventh conversions to round off an impressive start to the league season.