General Update

By Elliott Josypenko
January 4 2006

Pertemps Bees lock Rob Walton is delighted to be back at Sharmans Cross Road after a nightmare first four months of the season.

Centre Alex Grove, a product of the Pertemps Bees youth system, has been included in the Scotland Under-19 squad for the international against Italy at the Tre Fontane ground in Rome on Thursday December 29 (2.30pm local time).
Grove, a pupil at Rugby School, has already played senior rugby for the Pertemps Bees' midweek team, the Wannabees, and is currently playing for Stourbridge in National Two.
Grove played for Scotland Under-18s in last season's Home Unions Festival in South Wales and is one of two English-based players in Scotland's starting line-up.

Walton, 27, left the Bees during the summer for what he thought would be a dream move to their National One rivals Rotherham. He played in the showpiece pre-season friendlies against Glasgow and Ulster and the first two league games of the campaign but then suffered injury and fell out of favour with Rotherham's director of rugby Andre Bester on his return to fitness.
Walton played only one more league game and spent the last two months of his brief Rotherham career languishing in the second team before the Bees came to his rescue.
"When I went up to Rotherham in the summer they sold me a vision of building towards the Premiership over three years and it all sounded very impressive," Walton said.
"But it didn't work out that way for me. There was a personality clash between myself and one of the coaches which meant that it wasn't a relationship based on trust. Without trust you can't go anywhere.
"I was commuting up to Rotherham from my home in Hinckley three times a week for playing and matches and, with traffic on the motorway, that meant about two hours each way.
"That was a big commitment just to play second team rugby and I did get a bit down about things.
"But I decided to go down to watch a Bees game in November when Rotherham had a week off and I really enjoyed seeing my old mates again. Phil Maynard said that he had a bit of an injury crisis and was looking for a lock, Rotherham then said they were prepared to send me out on loan but then released me and I decided it was a good time to come back to the Bees."
"I''m delighted to be back," Walton said. "I'm at an age where I need to be playing first team rugby again and to be enjoying it.
"I feel comfortable at the Bees and I know most of the people at the club. It also helps that I know and trust Phil Maynard. You know exactly where you stand with Phil and he's someone that I know that I can work with.
"Things probably haven't gone the way Phil would like this season but he is trying to put things in place off the field to make sure that the club is run more professionally."

Pertemps Bees have released lock Ben Hughes on medical grounds.
Hughes, who was recruited from Gloucester's Academy at the start of last season, has been advised to take a break from rugby having suffered concussion on three occasions this season.
"Ben has suffered a number of head injuries and the medical advice is that he should not continue playing rugby," said Phil Maynard, Pertemps Bees' director of rugby.
"We thank Ben for his efforts and the contribution he has made in his two seasons with the club."

Phil Maynard, the Pertemps Bees director of rugby, will face questions from the fans at a forum evening in the clubhouse at Sharmans Cross Road on Thursday January 12 (9pm).
Maynard will be joined on the top table by his coaching team of John White, the former Moseley and Coventry head coach, Ben Harvey, the former England Sevens international scrum-half, and Brian Thomas-Peter.
The evening, which is a revival of the popular Pertemps Bees Forums that were held two years ago, is open to all and admission is free.