Bourns punished by in-form Students

Loughborough Students 49 Bournville 7

Bournville were brought down to earth with a resounding bump as they shipped 42 unanswered points against a well-organised Students side.

Head Coach Matt Price had wanted his players to back up last week’s performance against Taunton which brought a thrilling victory but, having turned around level at 7-7 and with everything to play for in the second 40 minutes, Bournville folded unexpectedly.

Loughborough scored six of their seven tries in a one-sided second period which left Bournville to head back down the M42 empty-handed and still seeking a first away win of the season.

Yet it had all started so promisingly as hooker Ben Rhodes went over for a ninth minute try after Loughborough were shunted backwards from a lineout drive and Freddie Morgan banged over the penalty.

Bournville tries to use the same tactic twice in quick succession in the opposite corner but this time Loughborough read the moves and were able to repel the driving mauls.

Those missed opportunities gave Loughborough the opportunity to regroup but it was still against the run of play that they levelled after 24 minutes when lock James Bennett rounded off a confident handling move and skipper Ben Taylor landed the first of his seven conversions.

A key turning point came on the half-hour when Stef Thorp, who had helped Bournville to win a succession of scrum penalties, turned an ankle when a scrum went down and with his departure Bourns lost a significant piece of their armoury.

But that alone did not explain what followed as Bournville were unrecognisable from the side that had showed such attacking intent and determination six days earlier.

Bournville scarcely ventured into Loughborough’s 22 in the second-half and when the Students upped the tempo the began to find gaps in the visitors’ defence.

The sin-binning of Reiss Price late in the first-half and Freddie Morgan early in the second, both for s deliberate knock-ons, made Bournville’s task even more difficult as did injuries to Rhodes and centres Alex Grove and Rob Knox. Rhodes suffered a suspected torn bicep, an injury that is likely to rule him out for the remainder of the season.

It was very much one-way traffic in the second period with livewire openside flanker Joe Denman, Rhys Hulse, blindside flanker Tayo Adegbemile, wing Jake Golding and number eight Monty Loggenberg – who rounded off another break by Denman – all crossing.

Bournville’s miserable evening was summed up when replacement Alex Wainwright went over under the posts with the final play of the match after Bournville coughed up possession from ill-conceived attack from their own line.

The decision to switch the match to a Friday night was rewarded with a large crowd including a sizeable contingent from Bournville but it probably handed an advantage to Loughborough. While Bournville players had to pick their way through rush hour traffic after a doing a full day’s work, the Students were able to rest and prepare as part of their full-time rugby programme.