Baldwin sent off as Wharfedale fail to sparkle

Wharfedale were unable to resurrect any of their fine pre-Christmas form yesterday in this SSE National League One upset at Damson Park as Birmingham belied their lowly status in claiming a comprehensive victory in a match they had confident charge of from beginning to end.

The Bees were the bigger, more physical side up front and their aggression in the tackle set a marker for the afternoon.

They halted Wharfedale’s early forays firmly in their tracks, gained supremacy in the set-piece with some excellent destructive scrummaging and were effectively disciplined in their ball retention and execution of a tight game-plan.

And behind it all they had the measured boot of Mark Woodrow – returning for his fifth spell with the Bees – to turn the pressure into points - 21 of them in all including six penalties as the Greens paid a heavy price for the pressure they were under both in the scrum and at the breakdown.

The other player to profit from the Bees' solid forward platform was England sevens star Simon Hunt. The pacy full back had a telling hand in the try- scoring, exploiting lax Wharfedale tackling in crossing twice and creating a third for centre Greg Evans – all of them from first phase use of the ball.

The Greens too managed three tries – two of them outstanding efforts when they did, for a brief ten minutes at the end of the first half, get ball on the front foot and mount an effective pick-and drive-game.

First winger Scott Jordan, collecting a possibly inadvertently precise diagonal chip from fly half Will Bell, left a retreating defence for dead with a beautiful in-and-out swerving run at full pace to score in the corner.

Then Tom Barrett, on as a result of the rib injury sustained by Andy Hodgson, glided through a gap to feed supporting lock Richard Brown, who scored under the posts.

Brown, with a fine display of hard-yard ball- carrying, was by far the Greens’ most effective performer on the day.

The Bees resumed their charge in the second half and had the victory well in the bag before the red-card departure of Wharfedale skipper Rob Baldwin, eventually giving way to frustration after enduring stoically and passively a period of sustained targeted intimidation clearly designed to that end.

A final late try for each side, with Jordan strolling over for his second, was incidental to a contest long settled in the favour of the home side.