London Welsh v Birmingham & Solihull Preview

This Saturday sees London Welsh return to ODP for the first home game of the season, versus Birmingham & Solihull (19th September, 3-00pm kick-off). We’ve long known that the old ground isn’t suited to professional rugby, a fact underlined by the 25 weeks which have elapsed since our last match there. During that time there have, of course, been huge changes on, off, and even around the pitch.

Birmingham & Solihull – as they are mercifully known once again – were formed 20 years ago, following the merger of the Birmingham and – wait for it – Solihull clubs.  At that stage, they were both in Midlands One – Birmingham having suffered successive relegations after starting life in Courage Three, while Solihull began life one rung lower.  At the end of its first season the new club was promoted to National Four North, thereby finding themselves at the same level as Welsh, but they were relegated after only one year.  Four seasons, two clubs; one promotion and four relegations…

Having been promoted for a second time two years later, only to find themselves still at level five following the restructure of the leagues, Bees began a steady year-on-year improvement.  They finished third in 1995-96, one behind Worcester, but rose to Four North due to another reorganisation; the following year they were runners-up, again behind Worcester, before finally gaining promotion to level three (Jewson National One) at the end of 1997-98.  Two years later, they were promoted to National One alongside champions Otley.

The first meeting of our clubs, therefore, came as recently as 24^th March 2001, Welsh winning 11-7 at Old Deer Park, courtesy of a try from the late Jurian Prins.  The return game a fortnight later – both fixtures having been postponed from December/ January – was even tighter, the Dragons sneaking a 14-13 win thanks to a last-gasp Adam Jones try after the home side thought they’d snatched victory with a penalty try five minutes from time.

For 2003-04, the club were renamed Pertemps Bees as part of a sponsorship deal with the recruitment group, and while many saw this as an attention-seeking gimmick, nobody could have foreseen the publicity which the club would gain from their run in the Powergen Cup.  A quarter-final away to Wasps at High Wycombe saw the visitors steal a 28-24 victory over a side which was billed as understrength yet which nevertheless included Tom Voyce, Ayoola Erinle, Stuart Abbott, John Rudd, Tim Payne, Trevor Leota, Will Green, Simon Shaw and Tom Rees.  Sadly, in front of a live audience on the BBC, they were unable to repeat the feat in the semi-final at Kingston Park, going down 53-3 to eventual winners Newcastle.

The Pertemps deal finished at the end of 2007-08, following the club’s controversial relegation to National Two.  A series of legal challenges, relating to the decision to dock points from Cornish Pirates for failing to fulfil the requirements regarding front row substitutions but not to award the points for a victory to Bees, meant that their demotion was not finalised until mid-summer, leaving newly-appointed Head Coach Russell Earnshaw with little time to build a squad for the new season.  Having lost three games in the first half of the season, however, Bees embarked on a twelve match winning streak, taking the title with one game remaining.  Winger Simon Hunt scored 31 tries, while fly-half Mark Woodrow, hero of the Wasps game five years earlier, returned to score 373 points.