Anyone who has any link with Bradford and Bingley RFC’s Senior Rugby sides over the last 30 years will surely still be able to pick out one particular sunny Saturday afternoon in 2004 as a major high point for the club, at least this side of the millennium. Saturday April 17th to be exact, the day the club hoisted the Powergen Intermediate Cup at Twickenham, defeating Gloucester Old Boys 46-18.

As the game kicked of at 5pm, there were around 1800 left in the vast concrete bowl of Twickenham Stadium by the time kick off rolled around. By any reasonable estimate, around two thirds of the crowd left in that corner of the huge amphitheatre were sporting the red amber and black of The Bees and managed to keep up an unholy racket from the first whistle until around 90 minutes later when Baz Clark lifted the trophy high above his head.

The final capped a superb season for the Bees. The club captured the North One title, winning 20 of the 22 league games and running in 975 points over the season. The Bees were pursued relentlessly to the title by local rivals, Cleckheaton, but a 39-12 win over their nearest rivals on 5th March, all but sealed the title for the Wagon Lane men.

The Bees top points scorer for the season was Tom Rhodes, who amassed 186 points before his season was ended by injury before Christmas. Rhodes ran in 13 tries alongside his hefty total from the kicking tee and when his season was prematurely curtailed, kicking duties passed to Stuart Dixon who then collected 180 points, including 21 tries.

By the time the final rolled around though, Dicko had ceded kicking duties to our Australian import, Dave Harvey, who also took over in the number 10 shirt. The captaincy had also passed to second row man, Clark, once it was clear that Rhodes was done for the season.

Tom Rhodes did return to first team duties and remained a veritable points machine for the Bees over the next 5 seasons, before departing for Otley in 2008.

Under any normal circumstance, Dixon’s 21 tries would surely have topped any try scoring chart, but this was no ordinary season as the Bees had another even more dynamic strike weapon in their arsenal in the shape of club talisman, Chris Hala’uifa. Hala’uifa ran in 27 tries in the 17 league games he played and enjoyed a rare old time smashing through, over and around unfortunate defenders across the North of England who had forlornly tried to halt his progress toward the whitewash.

So, when we gathered in our corner of Twickenham, Bees’ supporters were in huge anticipation of that first collision where “Big Chris” would announce himself to an unsuspecting Gloucester Old Boys’ defence. On seven minutes the first huge shockwave echoed around the ground as the Bees Number eight hurtled into contact, leaving an Old Boy prone on the turf. Bees’ hearts were in their mouths as the referee pulled the red card from his pocket, only to quickly pull out the yellow, sending Hala’uifa to the sin bin and not for the early bath.

Our nerves were settled by penalties from Harvey either side of the Hala’uifa yellow. It was clear from the early exchanges that the Gloucester side certainly had the size in their pack to compete with the Bees, but as soon as the ball went wide and away from the midfield arm wrestle, it was apparent that the West Yorkshire side had the upper hand in the broad acres of Twickenham.

Just as Hala’uifa re-entered the fray, the Bees should have claimed their first score. Benny Greaves chipped ahead and with Stuart Dixon outpacing the Gloucester backline, it seemed all the number 13 had to do was gather the ball and flop over the line. However, it was not to be as Dixon fluffed his chance and the score remained 6-0. Almost immediately the Bees backline made amends as the ball was shipped to the right and wing man, Pete Sutcliffe galloped clear to dot down. The Bees were now clearly in the ascendant and try number two duly arrived as Joey Nau slipped a pass to allow Steve Brimacombe to charge home.

The Bees were able to add a third score before half time as Benny Greaves made a solo dart right through the middle to score under the posts.

As the sides started the second half, it was time for the Old Boys to get on the score board. They opened their account with a penalty from fly half Gareth Fenwick followed on 47 minutes with a score as flanker, Iain Kennedy, managed to rumble over. A second Fenwick penalty gave the Old Boys some hope they might be back in the game, but on 57 minutes, Dave Harvey wriggled free to the left of the posts and after waving to his dad who was over from Australia, in the stands, the Bees stand off flung himself over the whitewash.

Harvey’s flamboyance seemed to irk the Old Boys around him and a minor scuffle broke out, but save for consolation try in the 70th minute that was just about the last fight we would see from the opposition. Their cause was undone as a loose ball was gathered by Ian Judson who unselfishly shipped the ball on to Joey Nau who matched Harvey’s dive with his own flight to touchdown.

The final try came on 79 minutes as Dixon intercepted a loose pass and goose-stepped his way down the Twickenham turf to score under the posts. The final conversion was attempted by Jonny Tuamoholea who was making a farewell appearance before joining Worcester.

For the record, the Bees starting XV was:

1 – Ronnie Kelly, 2 – Leon Treco, 3 – Peter Hall, 4 – Richard Hughes, 5 – Baz Clark, 6 – Ian Judson, 7 – Mark Thomas, 8 – Chris Hala’uifa, 9 – Joey Nau, 10 – Dave Harvey, 11 – Pete Sutcliffe, 12 – Steve Brimacombe, 13- Stuart Dixon, 14 – Joe Simpson, 15 – Benny Greaves.

The Bench was: Roger Raper, JP Rimmington, Jonny Tuamoholea, Rob Woodhead, Richard Petyt and Peter Scott.

Andy Smith, Mark Heap and Asa Firth were the travelling reserves.