Bournville Head Coach Matt Price was left with a mixture of pride and frustration after his side were edged out 27-21 by Hornets in their latest National Two West side at Hutton Moor Road.
The pride came after Bourns fought back from being 27-0 at half-time to almost snatch victory and the frustration at referee Ben Simpson’s interpretation of the scrum laws which led to a high penalty count in Hornets’ favour.
“In the first-half our execution was poor across the board and we didn’t get going but the non-refereeing of the scrum frustrated our boys which was a domino effect into the rest of the game and we gave penalties away elsewhere,” Price said.
“That first-half was one to forget. We did not execute how we wanted to play. Forget the ref, that’s on us.
“At half-time we said we had to take it out of his hands and go and play in the right areas, which we did.
“I was pleased and proud of the boys for coming back into it but it was too little too late.
“We had a lot of little things that just didn’t go our way and it’s a five point win away from home that we let slip which is the frustrating part of it.
“We had moments where we looked really good but you aren’t going to win games with just moments.”
One of the bright spots for Bournville in an afternoon to forget was the performance of fly-half Rhys Williams who scored one of the three second-half tries on his seasonal debut.
Williams missed the pre-season programme and only received his call-up for the Hornets match as a late replacement on the bench after Sam Grimshaw had to drop out with a whiplash injury sustained in a car accident during the week.
“Rhys has had to bide his time but he has come in and he’s done what he does which is he runs at teams, he lights it up and he gets the ball moving,” Price said.
“He’s a running threat at ten, which is good and I was very pleased for him.”
Bournville now have back-to-back home matches against league leaders Camborne next Saturday and Hinckley on October 26 before they have a week off.
Back-row forward Chris Idehen and tighthead prop Stef Thorp are unlikely to return before the break and wing Dan Rundle will also require a fitness check after he hobbled off against Hornets with a calf injury.
