Sandal 122 Bradford & Bingley 5

The Bees crashed to the biggest defeat at any level in the club’s 31-year history, allowing a rampant Sandal side to cross the whitewash 20 times in a utter humiliation for the Wagon Lane side.

It could have been worse still for the visitors as Sandal only converted 11 tries. There can be no defending this kind of performance, and indeed it appears there was little defending done out on the paddock for 80 minutes as the home side ran out of different ways to cut through the Bees line.

It took the home side seven minutes to claim their first score but once James Stewart had touched down, the floodgates opened as Sandal galloped into a
71-0 lead at half time, with 11 tries, eight of which were improved by the boot of Greg Wood.

Half-time should have allowed the Bees some time to regroup, but almost straight from the restart the Sandal scoring machine clicked into overdrive and had added four more scores by the 47th minute.

Those scores left Sandal five points short of the 100-mark and perhaps it was the realisation that the next score would bring up three figures that saw the Bees temporarily regain some backbone in defence.

However, after 15 minutes of stout resistance, the gaps reappeared and the home side once more had the scoreboard ticking over.

Left winger Simon Frewin helped himself to a fourth try of the afternoon to end the carnage on 79 minutes, with 12 of the Sandal starting 15 getting on the scoresheet.

The Bees do have a chance at a level of redemption next week as they face Birkenhead Park in their final league game of the season.

This has become a must-win fixture, not because the league position matters, but to restore some pride in the shirt.