Knights 62 Bees 25
Knights find cutting edge at last
This was a strange game by any standards, with an end of term feel to it, and a classic cliché of two halves on an ideal afternoon for rugby. Clive Griffiths had made several changes of personnel to change shape and tactics, and perhaps this had some effect on a stuttering first half performance.
For the first 37 minutes the Bees were in front and the home crowd incredulous. The visiting support couldn’t believe their eyes. A week ago the Knights launched their new community charity but it wasn’t meant to include the gifting of three tries on the pitch. With two minutes on the clock, and the Knights attacking after Brad Hunt had broken to start an attack, Mark Woodrow threw a pass to the left that was simply intercepted by Reece Spee who ran 60 metres unopposed to score. Jon Higgins converted, and quickly added a penalty for back chat as the lead went to ten points. Looking the livelier outfit, the Bees benefited twice more from home charity and alert hooker Matt Miles scored both. The first was the result of Knights not dealing with a box kick, allowing it to bounce around before being snaffled by Miles who made the right corner; and the second from an awful mess of a line out close to the home line, when nobody secured loose ball and watched as Miles was again the most alert to pinch the try as home support claimed a knock on. “Off the thigh” called the TJ and the try stood. While the Bees accumulated their 20 points, the Knights play was disjointed, passages of sharp incisive action not finished off being interspersed with errors. Woodrow did slot one penalty, having missed another, and the highlight was a storming try by Netani Talei after Jason Forster had broken out, good handling between backs and forwards took play deep into Bees ’22, before the Fijian powered to the line for Woodrow to add the extras. This brought the score to 10-20 and just three minutes of the half to play. Before Griffiths could say a few chosen words at half time, though, the Knights finally found their cutting edge and scored twice in quick succession. First Ben Phillips was driven over from a classic line out catch and drive after a scintillating attack; then Talei again showed his power as he finished off a lovely flowing move started deep in home territory. Woodrow converted both and the Knights suddenly, surprisingly, had a four point lead at the break.
Cerith Rees replaced the injured Woodrow at the break, and proceeded to have a huge impact on the match. His running lines, passing and kicking were immaculate and he seemed to spark the whole side who, for the next 40 minutes, looked quite unstoppable as they ran in half a dozen top drawer tries. The cutting edge that had been so palpably absent in recent weeks brought the crowd to their feet on many occasions as forwards and backs combined to take full advantage of a visibly wilting Bees pack and a defence that could only take so much. First Ngalu Tau thundered over when Van Vuuren was held short. Then Paul Bailey got into the corner after Rees and Gollings combined well after a great weaving run by Ben Jones had created panic in the Bees defence. Jason Forster inevitably got his name on the sheet, his 23rd of the season (the league record is 26) following up in support of Van Vuuren who had again just failed to break the last defender. Tom Davies was next, in support of Gollings who looked certain to score until he slowed to step, but was held by the defender – and Davies picked up and burrowed under the bodies. More fluent rugby set up another close in line out of which Phillips was again the beneficiary; and finally Bailey scored a beauty when he somehow held on at pace to a high floated pass, maintained his balance and sped outside the defence to make the line. Gollings had converted four of those six tries and a season’s high score had been reached. The one riposte from the Bees, which earned them a bonus point, had been a neatly taken try by Kyle Palm after an overlap had been created, following one of several dangerous runs by Adam Billig, but it was scant reward in the face of a breath taking second half by the Knights which would have put even the best teams to the sword.
Another Midland side, Moseley, visit the Castle next week (2.30pm) desperate for points in their battle with Otley to avoid relegation.
Knights: Gollings, Bailey, Hunt, Cannon, Van Vuuren, Woodrow (Rees 40), Jones (Storey 68), Bunting, Phillips (Boden 70), Tau (Davies 60), Griffiths (Kenworthy 40), Gross, Earnshaw (O Cook 70), Forster (Grainger 68), Talei.
Bees: Nuttall, Spee, Billig, Knight, Palm |
