HORNETS 17 BOURNVILLE 10
Report by Billy Page
Bournville threw away the chance of an away win by falling the wrong side of the penalty count that cost them in a tight 17-10 encounter. Bournville started the game in a positive fashion despite three quick fire penalties against them. The pack repelled the early advances of the Hornets catch and drive and some lovely out-of-hand kicking by Ben Tibbetts, Rhys and Owen Williams put the visitors in some good field position. After an early scrum penalty which Max Craven duly dispatched, Bourns got their own catch and drive going with Ash Scriven coming up with the ball and Max adding the extras for a 10-0 lead.
Hornets then rode out a good period of play with a couple of great cover tackles on Tom Burrows and Owen Williams and started to turn the tide at scrum time. A number of piggybacks up the field saw Hornets add 3 points for a halftime score line of 10-3.
The teams switched but again the referees whistle dominated and not in favour of Bourns and adding to that a few wobbles at the lineout saw the majority of the half played in Hornets attacking half. Callum Thompson went to the bin and the home side capitalised on the man advantage at scrum time as they crashed over after another 5m scrum. Lewis Hall was next to take a seat on the naughty stool and Hornets scored again to take the lead for the first time on 73 minutes. Despite a couple of late chances to get themselves back in the game, lack of concentration at set piece saw the opportunities go and Bournville can count themselves lucky to get a point as the Hornets kicker, who had been in fine kicking form all game, fluffed his lines on full time with a simple shot from in front of the sticks.
1; Ethan Walker – looked dangerous on his first start of the year and was unlucky not to fully capitalise on a couple of well-taken intercepts.
2; Sam Grimshaw – cleaned up well and contained their midfield with some wonderful defensive plays and a real growing threat with ball in hand.
3 and star man Ash Scriven. Once again led from the front defensively and made some great inroads with a couple of key turnovers and surges with ball in hand.
Through the viewfinder
An excellent and accurate match report.
One thing that stuck out for me and about half a dozen others I spoke to at the time, was the repeated use of the line out throw to the back.
Why? It wasn’t working.
Anyway – HERE are a few photos of mostly the 1st half, as I made sure I was in the right place for the try we had to score in the 2nd half. Unfortunately, we didn’t.
See you at the Newport (Salop) match.
Sully – Bournville’s always friendly (and free) photographer
