Martin has confidence in Bell as Bees face London Welsh

Dec 11 2009 by Brian Dick, Birmingham Mail

EUGENE Martin has backed Rob Bell to channel his motivation in the right direction when the young flanker faces his former club for the first time.

Bell moved to Bees from London Welsh in unhappy circumstances last month and Martin accepts the openside will be desperate to prove a point.

The 20-year-old will form part of the committee that welcomes the Exiles to Sharmans Cross Road tomorrow but Martin has confidence the youngster will not see the game as an opportunity to settle old scores.

Indeed the stand-in head coach believes Bell’s determination will bring out his best and deliver the sort of supercharged performance for which he has already become renowned at Bees.

“If that makes him go out with enthusiasm and fire in his belly then I’d rather that than the other way round,” said Martin.

“We just need to light the blue touchpaper and then he will go.

“He lives right on the edge but we just have to coach him to pick his battles.

“If he gets a yellow card then he’s going to be sitting down while 14 other blokes are working their butts off. He knows that.”

Bell endured a spell in the sin-bin in last Sunday’s 28-0 defeat at Bristol after a technical offence.

But it was a costly one and Martin has made it clear it cannot be repeated.

“It gave them a penalty try and a bonus point and, come play-off time, we can’t afford things like that. We have had a chat about it,” he added.

With his squad weighed down by a bout of swine flu, Martin at least has the good news that forward Ross Noonan has returned to fitness.

Full-back Mike Penn is also available again after being withdrawn by parent club Worcester the day before the trip to the Memorial Stadium.