Birmingham and Solihull Bees go to Defence Club

Sep 10 2010 by Brian Dick, Birmingham Mail

BUMBLING Bees have prepared for tomorrow’s trip to London Welsh by spending a day at Defence Club.

Russell Earnshaw has revealed he put his men through their paces earlier this week as he sought a solution to his team’s soft centre.

The Solihull outfit have opened their Championship campaign by conceding 12 tries in just two matches in what has been a testing beginning to the new season.

Both Worcester and Nottingham scored six each and the task facing B&S doesn’t get any easier with the big-money Exiles next on the agenda.

But Earnshaw knows there can be no excuses, which is why he dedicated a third of their training time to sorting out the problem.

“We had a whole session on it on Tuesday,” the director of rugby said. “We looked at our intensity, our understanding and our defence under fatigue.

“We know there were a few guys who had off days but there were also system errors and things that happened a couple of phases before tries were scored.

“Jack Preece was our best defender against Nottingham and he got to pick his best defensive team. We also had an open invitation to join the worst defensive team and a few of the boys stepped up of their own accord.

“It brought it out into the open and is preferable to me shouting and pointing the finger at them.” Bees’ prospects at Old Deer Park will not be helped by the two-week absence of Rob Connolly.