Bees 38-25 Orrell
By Elliott Josypenko
January 22 2005
It was bitterly cold at Sharmans Cross today, although not quite as cold as Leicester at 8AM (-3 for the record), but that's a different story.
By Elliott Josypenko
January 22 2005
It was bitterly cold at Sharmans Cross today, although not quite as cold as Leicester at 8AM (-3 for the record), but that's a different story.
Bees started off as the fans hoped they would continue when Nick Baxter went round the Orrell winger and touched down after just three minutes, before a number of the fans had got ready for the action.
This is where the first few minutes of quality rugby ended. For the first half Bees had all of the possession, all of the play, but still managed to go in all square at 17-17.
Bees were poor in the first half, although not as bad as last week. The handling was particularly bad especially in the backs, with dropped catches, dropped passes, and all of the backs were at fault to be honest. They were also guilty of some poor decisions. Twice within ten minutes of the start, Bees could have had tries with large overlaps, but poor decisions and handling meant that we couldn't take the opportunities. When Paul Knight's poor pass was intercepted after 7 minutes, Orrell ran in a try to take it to 7-5.
Bees scored again after 14 minutes when Matt Miles broke through the Orrell defence, made some good yards, took out the full back and passed off to supporting Luke Narraway who ran it in under the posts.
Orrell scored again on 27 minutes and Matt Miles scored just before the break in the far corner from me, from some forward play, to make it 17-17 at half time.
Bees were poor in the first half with just a few exceptions, but the second half became far more interesting and entertaining as Bees ran in three more tries to just one from Orrell.
First of all, some great kicks from Tim Walsh put Orrell in their own twenty two, and Bees regained possession before Scotty Williams was scragged around the neck, but still managed to pass out of the tackle and Dave Knight ran in at the corner.
Next, former Bristol boy Simon Hunt scored for Bees. Bees earned a penalty in the centre of the pitch, and Tim Walsh kicked the ball to the Orrell five metre line where we caught and drove. Orrell just about held out before Nick Baxter took the ball into contact. The ball went to substitute Hese Fakatou who hit the Orrell defence back to the line before Paul Knight picked up and did a Matt Dawson, behind the back pass to Simon Hunt.
Orrell finally got some possession back and took the attack to the Bees and their centre scored unders the posts. With time running out, and Orrell needing another score to win, their kicker decided to drop kick to save the time of bringing the tee on... After all, anyone could kick it over from 5 yards. Not him! He missed leaving Orrell 8 points away.
They attacked the Bees line again, but a fumble by the Orrell winger was collected by Nick Baxter in his own 22, who sprinted in to rapturous applause. Unfortunately for Backo he was actually caught up by the referee. Note to Phil Maynard- Sign him up, stick him on the other wing!
There was even time to bring on Alex Davidson for a long awaited return to the first team. Unfortunately he's terribly unfit and was struggling after five minutes.
The second half was far better from Bees, and to be honest there were some very good points. Obviously the handling was dreadful, but the amount of possession was a good thing. Bees hardly gave Orrell the ball. I'm slightly worried with the fact that we can't seem to score from these opportunities though.
Defending was again solid especially within the forwards. I was disappointed with Shaun Woof's tackling. Their inside centre who was very strong, seemed to be targetting him, and winning.
Orrell weren't quite as bad as I was expecting them to be. They were good in the backs, particularly the inside centre, and their front row forwards were quite good. They were very indisciplined, and this really let them down.
Various people played well today. Matt Miles had a solid game and was named man of the match. My man of the match was probably Tommy Jordan. Tom came in at open side and had a very solid game making a number of breaks and putting in some great tackles. He was quite unlucky to be subbed off after 60 minutes. Tim Walsh also had a good game and some of his kicking out of hand was phenomenal.
This is where the first few minutes of quality rugby ended. For the first half Bees had all of the possession, all of the play, but still managed to go in all square at 17-17.
Bees were poor in the first half, although not as bad as last week. The handling was particularly bad especially in the backs, with dropped catches, dropped passes, and all of the backs were at fault to be honest. They were also guilty of some poor decisions. Twice within ten minutes of the start, Bees could have had tries with large overlaps, but poor decisions and handling meant that we couldn't take the opportunities. When Paul Knight's poor pass was intercepted after 7 minutes, Orrell ran in a try to take it to 7-5.
Bees scored again after 14 minutes when Matt Miles broke through the Orrell defence, made some good yards, took out the full back and passed off to supporting Luke Narraway who ran it in under the posts.
Orrell scored again on 27 minutes and Matt Miles scored just before the break in the far corner from me, from some forward play, to make it 17-17 at half time.
Bees were poor in the first half with just a few exceptions, but the second half became far more interesting and entertaining as Bees ran in three more tries to just one from Orrell.
First of all, some great kicks from Tim Walsh put Orrell in their own twenty two, and Bees regained possession before Scotty Williams was scragged around the neck, but still managed to pass out of the tackle and Dave Knight ran in at the corner.
Next, former Bristol boy Simon Hunt scored for Bees. Bees earned a penalty in the centre of the pitch, and Tim Walsh kicked the ball to the Orrell five metre line where we caught and drove. Orrell just about held out before Nick Baxter took the ball into contact. The ball went to substitute Hese Fakatou who hit the Orrell defence back to the line before Paul Knight picked up and did a Matt Dawson, behind the back pass to Simon Hunt.
Orrell finally got some possession back and took the attack to the Bees and their centre scored unders the posts. With time running out, and Orrell needing another score to win, their kicker decided to drop kick to save the time of bringing the tee on... After all, anyone could kick it over from 5 yards. Not him! He missed leaving Orrell 8 points away.
They attacked the Bees line again, but a fumble by the Orrell winger was collected by Nick Baxter in his own 22, who sprinted in to rapturous applause. Unfortunately for Backo he was actually caught up by the referee. Note to Phil Maynard- Sign him up, stick him on the other wing!
There was even time to bring on Alex Davidson for a long awaited return to the first team. Unfortunately he's terribly unfit and was struggling after five minutes.
The second half was far better from Bees, and to be honest there were some very good points. Obviously the handling was dreadful, but the amount of possession was a good thing. Bees hardly gave Orrell the ball. I'm slightly worried with the fact that we can't seem to score from these opportunities though.
Defending was again solid especially within the forwards. I was disappointed with Shaun Woof's tackling. Their inside centre who was very strong, seemed to be targetting him, and winning.
Orrell weren't quite as bad as I was expecting them to be. They were good in the backs, particularly the inside centre, and their front row forwards were quite good. They were very indisciplined, and this really let them down.
Various people played well today. Matt Miles had a solid game and was named man of the match. My man of the match was probably Tommy Jordan. Tom came in at open side and had a very solid game making a number of breaks and putting in some great tackles. He was quite unlucky to be subbed off after 60 minutes. Tim Walsh also had a good game and some of his kicking out of hand was phenomenal.
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