Both clubs have recently had their financial worries and London Welsh started the match with an overdraft of league points. The five points gathered today finally took them to a surplus and solved a problem for the many websites that couldn’t show a negative number in their league tables.

The much anticipated upgrade to the Old Deer Park facilities have yet to materialise but on a sunny day there are still few better places to watch rugby. The arrival of Brains Bitter on the handpumps in the club house bar underlined that the ‘flannelled fools’ had moved out for the winter and the wait for our first home game of the season was finally over.

The confidence that Bees should have gained from finishing within four points of Bristol last week must have been shattered when fly half Mark Woodrow, seen by many as their key player, left the club midweek lured by the prospect of Heineken Cup rugby and regular wage payments at Italian club Viadana. For Welsh, Paul Sampson and Tom Brown made their first league starts of the season with Joe Horn-Smith part of the match day squad for the first time.

Handling errors ended the Dragons’ opening two chances, first due to a knock-on and the second when a wild pass missed the supporting player. Greg Evans, on in the centre while Neil Starling was having a cut treated, made a break after Welsh managed to steal the ball in their own 22. A pass out to Errie Claassens gave the wing a chance to take on the Bees’ defence. A chip ahead was gathered but once again a knock-on ended the move. Although the try line couldn’t be breached the home team took a three point lead after Aled Thomas kicked a penalty.

Birmingham & Solihull were under pressure again when a long kick by Gordon Ross allowed Dan George and then Tom Brown to take the ball forward. The ball was passed to Claassens, then on to Evans and finally Sampson to touch down. With the conversion Welsh were now ten points to nil ahead and a further three points were added by Thomas when Bees were once again caught offside.

Welsh Captain Jon Mills found a gap and took play up field to the 22 metre line. Quick passes through the midfield and Sampson found himself at the end of the move to score his second try. The conversion went wide and the score was 18-0.

London Welsh failed to take advantage of two further chances and it was ill discipline from the visiting team that gave Gordon Ross a penalty kick to touch. From five metres out the Welsh forwards drove forward but were held up at the line. Another penalty was awarded to Welsh and this time the maul was successful and Tom Brown added his name to the score sheet.  A conversion by Aled Thomas took the Dragons to a 25 point lead. The score stayed this way until half time but could easily have been higher when Nick Runciman slipped a tackle and passed to Matt Corker. With a simple run in to score Corker dropped the ball just short of the line.

Aled Thomas could have added to the lead in the early minutes of the second half but his penalty kick went wide of the posts. This was soon forgotten when Claassens intercepted a pass and scored the fourth try of the match and with it earned Welsh a bonus point.

Handling errors crept back into the game and both teams missed a number of scoring opportunities. Birmingham & Solihull finally took their chance when Gordon Ross dropped the ball on their 22 meter line. The loose ball was kicked ahead, gathered, and two passes took it out to Ronnie McLean who scored. He converted his own try to take the score to 32-7.

With just over 10 minutes to go Tom Brown scored his second try. From a penalty kick to touch Welsh won the lineout the forwards drove Brown over the line to extend the lead to 37-7. The conversion was missed. In the closing minutes London Welsh lost concentration and when Bees took a quick penalty Rod Petty had an easy run in for a consolation try. The final score was 37-12 taking Welsh ‘into the black’ in terms of both league points and points difference.

Next week Welsh travel to Rotherham and with Bedford at home the following week will need to improve their performances and eliminate the handling errors to win both these matches.

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