WITH the new four-team relegation play-off structure in just its second season there is not yet a body of quantitative data, nor indeed any consensus, about how best to approach the Group of Death.
However, most coaches demand their team wins its home games and makes a good start in order to establish early control of its destiny.
Unfortunately for Russell Earnshaw his Bees side did neither yesterday as they overcame a sluggish opening, threatened for the middle two quarters but then lost their way in the final 20 minutes.
As a result they remain bottom of Pool C with what – just one match in – already looks like a pivotal derby at Moseley to come next Saturday.
“Is it a decider? No, there’s four games left and if you win four games you will be alright,” Earnshaw said.
“But we have put a bit of heat on ourselves – of course we have – because we have lost a home game.”
They did so largely through the efforts of Esher full-back Sam Ulph, who harvested 20 points, many of which were gifted to him by the hosts’ generosity.
In reply Bees produced second-half tries from Semisi Taulava and Ollie Grove, which kept the final exchanges close without ever hinting at outright success.
“We have got to get better, Esher played well, they are a good side and we just made critical errors which we paid for,” the director of rugby added.
There was a stage when it looked as though Mark Woodrow would kick his side to victory.
Having slipped 10-0 behind, the hosts began to get on top with their driven lineout and supremacy in the front row.
That resulted in three penalties in less than a quarter-of-an-hour towards the end of the first half as the diminutive fly-half brought his side to within a point.
Soon after the restart Bees then made what could have been a pivotal goalline stand as Esher laid siege in the home 22 and were awarded a couple of penalties but Earnshaw’s defence held out.
Bees seemed to draw strength from that and almost immediately they edged down the pitch and – after Earnshaw stole an Esher lineout – Woodrow took everyone by surprise both with the timing and angle of his 50th-minute drop goal.
That meant Bees held a two-point advantage as the final quarter approached and with their set-piece functioning well they certainly had the tools to complete the job.
But Ulph’s try, after a break by Dave Slemen, and an alert counter-attack from a 74th-minute lineout, which sprung Luke Wallace, Esher managed to take a stranglehold on the game, the group and the direction of their fortunes.
BEES: Winter (Foden 78); Hunt, Lawson, Cox, Grove; Woodrow, Petty; Dugard (Long 60), McMillan, Halavatau, Hopley, Ball (Noonan 60), Connolly, Denbee (Taulava 28), Earnshaw. Replacements: Tau, Thomas, Williams
ESHER: Ulph; Lozides, MacKenzie P, Jewell, Mullen; Slemen, MacKenzie J; Tunnicliff (Baker 79), Walker (Campbell 53), Nebbett, Rudzki, Barker, Downey (Wallace 53), Stitcher (Gaynor 78), Mayhew. Replacements: Renwick, Chisholm, Gibbs
