Bees beat Southend thanks to words of wisdom
By David Lawrence, Birmingham Post
March 24 2009
BIRMINGHAM & SOLIHULL 49 SOUTHEND 27 Of all their remaining games, the visit of Southend was meant to be one of the more straightforward for Bees. The Essex side are rooted in the drop zone and their survival hopes are slim. But for nearly an hour, it was the visitors who were playing the high-tempo slick rugby that has been the norm at Sharmans Cross Road this season. They went into
the final stages with a seven-point lead, boosted by three tries in nine minutes at the start of the second half.
No panic buttons were pressed but it needed a few words from coach Russell Earnshaw and skipper Ben Phillips to galvanise the home side and steer them to a win which was far less comfortable than the scoreline suggests.
Rod Petty, who switched from scrum-half to centre as part of a second-half reshuffle, bagged a hat-trick of tries but admitted there were some anxious moments.
“We were a bit off our game in the first half,” he explained. “When they got in front with 20 minutes to play, Russell and Ben had a word behind the posts saying ‘this isn’t going to be the weekend when we let everyone back in the league’. There was no ranting or raving, just some good solid words. We then put our heads down and racked up another four tries towards the end.”
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