Earnshaw Slams His Bees

Birmingham & Solihull player coach Russell Earnshaw has blasted his team following their 37-12 defeat at London Welsh on Saturday.

Having accused his players of playing as if they had just met each other Earnshaw told the Birmingham Mail, “ “On Sunday I sent out an email asking the players 15 questions about the way we defend. They all appear to know the principles but weren’t applying them.”

“And at ten we have got to get the boys outside him communicating more. We have some very inexperienced and quiet boys out there but they have to feed information in to our decision-makers.”

Full story.. www.birminghammail.net/birmingham-sport

Concern For Bedes + Blues Match Played Down + Merriman Confident

Bristol face the propspect of being without the services of former Cornish Pirates Number 8 Bertrand Bedes for some time, amid fears that he has suffered a serious knee injury.

Bedes was helped from the field after just 11 minutes of his debut and although the severity of his injury is yet to be revealed, Coach Paul Hull has admitted that he is concerned.

However the other injury victims against Rotherham – Mat Turner and Ross Johnson – are expected to be back in action shortly.

Full story.. www.thisisbristol.co.uk/bristolrugby

Paul Hull has played down the importance of Bristol`s trip to Goldington Road to face Bedford Blues on Saturday. He told the Evening Post,

“I'm not going to blow this game up to something it isn't – it's only the fourth game of the season. Let's not try to make this a cup final – it's just another league game and we're steadily going forward."

Full story.. www.thisisbristol.co.uk/

Bristol flanker James Merriman believes his team have turned a corner after beating Rotherham on Sunday.

He said,

“Against Rotherham, everyone showed good commitment at the tackle area and we had some good collisions and knocked them back over the gain line. We can take a lot of confidence going into Bedford with that kind of defence.

"We're going up to Bedford, who haven't conceded a try yet and have a lot of confidence at home. It's going to be a tough, physical game up there.

We're under no illusions, we know we've got a big job to do up there. But we'll take a lot of confidence from our defence – and our structures are starting to come into play more and more now, too.”

Full story.. /www.thisisbristol.co.uk/bristolrugby

Cov Hope To Include Carpenter In Pirates Squad

Coventry hope to have Canadian international forward Aaron Carpenter fit for the trip to Cornwall to face the Cornish Pirates on Sunday.

The 26 year-old suffered a knee injury on duty for his country against the USA in the summer and it flared-up again against Exeter Chiefs on Friday evening, forcing him to leave the field early in the second half.

Director of rugby Phil Maynard told the Coventry Evening Telegraph,

“It looks as though it’s only a twist. We are assessing it every day but it does not look as serious as originally thought. I would say he has a 50-50 chance of playing.”

Full story.. www.coventrytelegraph.net

Chiefs Remove “All-Ticket” Restrictions + Blythe On Way Back

Exeter Chiefs have announced that their derby against Plymouth Albion on Saturday is no longer an all-ticket match.

Chief executive Tony Rowe told the club website,

“We have had some supporters calling asking us whether there were any returned tickets and others saying they have heard rumours we are sold out, and that is not the case!

“We made this an all-ticket event to avoid people turning up on a match day to find a game all sold out.

However, as we can now accommodate more than 7,000 supporters at Sandy Park, this is less likely and we want to make is perfectly clear that there are still tickets available.”

The matches against Bristol (December 27 th) and the Cornish Pirates (November 14 th) are also no longer all-ticket events.

In other news from Sandy Park 33 year-old hooker Sam Blythe has returned to full training after five months on the sidelines.

Blythe tore a bicep against Otley last season.

Delaney – Bees Will Not Be Easy

Nottingham director of rugby Glen Delaney has warned his team to expect another tough test when they entertain Birmingham & Solihull at Meadow Lane on Sunday.

Delaney told the club website,

"It will be much the same on Sunday. It will be a tough game and maybe even tougher than against Moseley.

"The Bees are a good broken field side with a very limited amount of structure and if you give them space you could be in trouble. These are the kind of teams that if you give them that time and space they will score - that's rugby."

Full story.. www.nottinghamrugby.co.uk

Further Surgery For Hopper

Plymouth Albion are hoping that a further minor operation will be enough to finally cure centre Matt Hopper`s long standing ankle problem.

Chairman of rugby Graham Dawe told The Herald,

“Matt is having a small operation to remove some unwanted fluid on his tendon.”

"We were hoping the problem would clear up without surgery, but we are now having to revert to it. Hopefully, this will clear it up once and for all and that he should be back in three or four weeks – but there's no guarantees."

Full story.. www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/albion