Bees are stung by rampant Westoe
AFTER the bungles, the bonanza came.
While Westoe may have brought much more consistency into their game, they have not lost the knack of causing supporters the extremes of delight and disillusion – though, fortunately, this time it was in the reverse order.
In the first half they just seemed too eager and although some of the handling was slick, it came unstuck.
Meanwhile the Bees – as the Tykes are known – steadily accumulated points with three penalty conversions by sure-footed centre Tom Davidson.
It was half an hour before Gareth Nesbit's men got on the scoreboard when strong drives from two successive line-outs ended with hooker Raymie Elliott being propelled over beside the left corner flag.
The Wood Terrace faithful could hardly have complained at the 9-5 half-time score in favour of the visitors, who would now have the decided advantage of the ground's slope.
But the Dunes Adventure Island-sponsored Shieldsmen resumed as if galvanised.
There were, said Big Nes, no harsh words during the 10-minute break. "We knew where we had gone wrong, and we knew what was needed to put it right," he said.
And that, they certainly did. Fleet, attacking play immediately won a penalty that fly-half Charlie Rayner converted and just 10 minutes later, a Westoe victory was pretty well in the bag.
First, full-back James Phillips took a long pass from a maul and sped over, and then a strong multi-sequenced passing and pushing attack up the right flank ended with the ball spinning out to centre James Clark, who spotted a gap in the defence to score his now customary try.
The battling Bees, second bottom of National 2 North, showed throughout that they had plenty of the spirit they will need to fight their way out of trouble, and on the hour came back into contention when their pack, who had had rather the worse of things, went into power play.
An unrelenting maul which began with a line-out on the 22 ended with flanker Guy Ford being driven over beside the left corner flag, Davidson converting splendidly.
But it was short-lived. An awkward bounce of the restart kick caused confusion in the Bees' defence and livewire flanker Aaron Myers grabbed a loose ball and off-loaded it to lock Matty Muchall to burst over.
Another Rayner penalty increased the lead before the 6ft 6ins Muchall, who had so disrupted his opponents' line-out ball, confirmed his unofficial man-of-the-match status – bestowed on him by director of rugby Andy Howells – by galloping 20 metres along the right flank to touch down and earn his side the four-try bonus.
Westoe completed a fine display when a few minutes before the final whistle, a fast and crisp crossfield assault by the backs ended with centre Dan Rayson going over.
And this win, their fifth in their last six games, means they are now in fifth top place, and their nine bonus points are equalled only by table-topping Loughborough Students.
Howells said afterwards: "We pushed too hard in the first half and tried to score in the first phase. But in the second half, we put those phases together and the tries came.
"Overall, it was a very fine performance with Muchall being the pick of the players and young Matthew Shields (at tighthead prop) scrummaging very well in his first start for the team."
* In a high quality game, the Seconds played a hard-fought 10-all draw against resourceful opponents in their Candy League clash at Middlesbrough.
The Westoe men's tries came in each half from lock Jordan Coates and centre David Whitelaw.
* The Colts fought back from a half-time deficit of 15-0 at Percy Park, but it was too great a task and they were beaten 23-18 in the Under-18 League clash at Oakleigh Gardens.
Tries were scored by No8 Michael Thompson, prop Michael Whitley and winger Johnnie Wilkinson, with Sam Hughes kicking a penalty.
* The Thirds, unable to raise a side, had to call off their Northumberland 2A game at West Hartlepool.
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Friday 25 May 2012
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