By Elliott Josypenko
April 13 2004

This was a game in all reality which would determine 3rd place in National League One, something which neither side has achieved before.

Pertemps Bees 20-23 Plymouth Albion

10/04/2004 3PM

Sharmans Cross Road

Tries	Tries
Nabaro (2)	Schusterman (2)
Fletcher
Cons	Cons
Woodrow	Carrington (2)
Pens	Pens
Woodrow	Carrington (3)

Pertemps Bees Position Plymouth Albion Jim Thorp 1 T Paoletti Rob Merritt 2 Dan Parkes Kevin Tkachuk 3 Stewart Pearl Neil Fletcher 4 Brett Luxton Ed Orgee 5 William James Hese Fakatou 6 Martin Schusterman Nathan Carter 7 Danny Thomas Duncan White 8 Dan Ward-Smith Tom Richardson 9 Nigel Cane Mark Woodrow 10 Tom Barlow Nick Baxter 11 John Fabian Dave Knight 12 Kevvi Fisilau Luke Nabaro 13 Nat Saumi Aaron Takarangi 14 Lee Robinson Tim Barlow 15 Matt Carrington Terry Sigley 16 Graham Dawe Alan Hubbleday 17 Chris Lowrie Matt Long 18 Brett McCormack Jim Jenner 19 Tim Mathias Matt Long 20 Andy Perry Tom Jordan 21 Pat Sykes Jason Strange 22 Ross Winney

Both sides were severely depleted but it was Albion who started the best. The Albion outside half, who by all accounts was only playing due to the first choice Tom Barlow being mauled by Exeter last week, kicked very intelligently for his side placing a lot of ball behind the Bees back three. Tim Barlow had to run the ball into touch giving Albion a close lineout from which they managed to pushover very easily. Carrington (for Albion) place kicked brilliantly all day (well... except for the last one), and his kicking from hand was very good as well. It seemed a tactic which they relied upon time after time and they kept hitting Bacco with kicks and with pressure from No14 Lee Robinson (very quick) they struggled to clear. It then gave a monstrous forward unit chances to score. Bees were quite poor in the first half but managed to score two Luke Nabaro tries to take it to 20-15 down at half time. I think that this was a fair result, both teams lacked in defence but in attack both sides looked like they'd score at every opportunity. One player seemed to let the Bees down badly. I know he's only in because of injuries but Neil "Shadow" Fletcher was dead after about thirty seconds and really struggled to keep up at all. Weighing in at close to about 21 stone it's surprising that anyone can lift him. I think it was in the first half but Mark Woodrow had a conversion from Luke Nabaro's try from in front of the posts. The Bees fans behind the goal went up and most along the side did as well. The Albion fans who were excellent and very loud, didn't cheer (which they were doing for most of our mistakes) and to be honest, I was 95% sure it went between the posts. It seemed quite deja vu, except that on this occasion, it actually went very against us. The second half was very different. I can't actually remember Albion getting anywhere near our goal line and it was one of the most one sided halves you will see. All for knock ons, poor refereeing (Albion were offside so often, and also slowing the ball down) Bees should have won. Bees should have been very disappointed not to have beaten a quite poor Albion side but it was just about acceptable considering other circumstances.
Other results:
Coventry 18(0)-(5)57 Worcester
Otley 38(5)-(0)11 Wakefield
Pirates 10(0)-(5)42 Exeter
Welsh 25(1)-(4)30 Bedford
Orrell 75(5)-(0)22 Manchester (11 tries, 25 points for Leigh Hinton)
Next Match: Worcester April 24th