CLUB NEWS

MATCH REPORT V LEEDS

For the third time this season, Bedford Blues returned home empty handed from a visit to Yorkshire and were left to rue a series of missed chances in the first half and poor discipline after the break for a narrow 21-17 defeat at Leeds Carnegie.

Bedford slipped a place in the Championship table following defeat at Headingley but it could have been so different had they made the most of their possession in the first half to avenge their defeat to the former Premiership side at Goldington Road in October.

 

There was only one team in the game in the opening 40 as the Blues put behind them a nightmare journey up the M1 that meant the game had to be delayed by 15 minutes. Leeds opened the scoring through their fullback Tommy Bell however penalties from James Pritchard and a long range effort from Jake Sharp gave Bedford a well deserved lead. In horrible conditions and on a sticky pitch, the Blues enjoyed the lion's share of possession but knock-ons at crucial stages denied them points.

 

When the try came it appeared as if they had missed their chance again. Scrum-half Stef Liebenberg spotted a big overlap on the blind side and fed Josh Barrett. He tried to cut inside but was tackled and his attempted offload went to the ground. However, Sharp had the great presence of mind to dive on the loose ball and flick it up to the supporting run of Ian Vass, who went over for the try. The conversion was missed by Sharp but Bedford led 11-3 at that stage.

 

Leeds did get a penalty back before the break but it looked as if the Blues would kick on after the break and seal the win.

 

Instead referee Dave Pearson, who had dropped down from the Premiership to take charge of this vital Championship clash, took umbrage with Bedford’s play at the breakdown and continually penalised them out of the game from that point onwards.

 

Bell kicked four consecutive penalties to edge the home side in front 18-14, just as his kicking had kept Leeds in the game at Goldington Road earlier the season. Bedford were also dealt a blow when Brendan Burke was sent to the sin-bin as a result of the flurry of penalties.

 

Bedford finally got a penalty within range with 13 minutes to go and Pritchard reduced the arrears to one point. However, Bell kicked a seventh and final penalty to give Leeds their winning margin.

The visitors pressed hard in the closing stages but they found themselves constantly having to attack from deep as Leeds were happy to kick for territory in the wet conditions and live off Bedford’s errors.

 

In the end, Bedford had to settle for a losing bonus point on a frustrating day all round. For the team however, they will take heart from their performance as they edge ever closer to the all important play-offs in three games time.

 

Leeds Carnegie: Bell, Blackett, Thornley, Barrow, Lucock, Ford (Barker, 57), Cliff, Denman (Lockwood, 57), Titterrell (Freer, 63), Young (Mustafa, 53), Hohneck, Denton (Pendlebury, 72), Burrows, Beck, Rowan

 

Replacements not used: Hemingway, Shaw

 

Bedford Blues: Pritchard, Kohler, Burke, Vass (Dodge, 65), Bassett, Sharp, Liebenberg (Barrell, 55), Walsh, Cochrane, Boulton, Howard, Tomes (Veenendaal, 55), Gillanders, Rae, Tupai (Fisher, 63)

 

Replacements not used: Locke, Lennard

 

Referee: Dave Pearson (RFU)

 

Attendance: 2,514

MATCH REPORT V LONDON SCOTTISH

Josh Bassett maintained his hot streak with a hat-trick of tries as Bedford Blues brushed London Scottish aside.

 

It marked a quick and emphatic return to winning ways after last week’s defeat at Doncaster in which the young wing – currently training with England Under-20 – notched his first two inside the first 15 minutes, either side of a wonderfully taken Jake Sharp score.

 

Don Barrell added the fourth and clinched a bonus point just before the break before the final ten minutes saw Darryl Veenendaal bag a brace, sandwiched in between Bassett’s third.

 

It wasn’t the best of starts though as a Sharp knock-on and two collapsed scrums led to a penalty that Exiles’ fly-half Daniel Mugford dispatched in the third minute. But it was quickly erased moment later as the Blues standoff picked out Bassett via Pritchard with a raking pass that left Scottish wide open. The winger greedily exploited the space to dive over but the skipper missed the first of two opening conversions.

 

The Australian’s kicking rival in the number ten Blues shirt soon exhibited another fine example of half-back play, slicing open the Exiles’ defence.

 

Though he was hauled down a yard short of the line he had the presence of mind to stretch out and find the line. Pritchard again pulled wide.

 

But the gaps where there early on and Bassett homed in on them with glee, one glorious side-step bamboozling three covering defenders to leave a clear route to the try line. This time the Blues fullback hit his mark and added the extras.

 

The visitors’ mountainous task became steeper just before the break when Ben Thomas and Ben Lonergan were sent to the bin for separate infringements on their own try-line.

 

Blues made them pay as Barrell showed his skills with the boot to dribble the ball over from the back of the scrum and fall on it for the fourth score of the afternoon, Pritchard’s successful conversion signalling the end of a very productive half.

 

But four minutes after the break Scottish replied with a converted try from Ryan Westren to make it 24-10 just as their full complement of players was restored.

 

It marked a period of possession and containment – though thankfully from a Bedford point of view, no further cutting edge – for the Richmond-based side that was finally broken on the 70th minute.

 

Rare second half territory found the Blues battering away at the Exiles’ defences from five metres out until Veenendaal squeezed over out wide.

 

Pritchard missed his third conversion but it mattered little because the day belonged to Bassett and the speed merchant completed his hat-trick by weaving his way between the posts for an unconverted score after Sam Pailor made an initial break.

 

Not to be totally outdone Henry Staff then performed a Pailor impression, offloading in the tackle for Veenendaal to dive beneath the crossbar. This time Pritchard added two points to seal a comprehensive scoreline.

 

BLUES: Pritchard, Kohler, Staff, Vass (Dodge, 60), Bassett, Sharp (Lennard, 72), Liebenberg (Veenendaal, 60), Steenkamp (Walsh, 60), Locke (Cochrane, 52), Boulton, Tupai (Johnson, 72), Tomes (Pailor, 52), Gillanders, Rae, Barrell 

 

LONDON SCOTTISH: Peel, Gosio (Grove, 75), Westren, MacDougall, Morris, Mugford (Brown, 33), Lalanne (Heeks, 40), Kent, Standfield, Liffchak (Mackenzie, 40), Rudzki (Karonias, 57), Thomas, Kleeberger, Lonergan, Lipp

 

Unused replacements: McGrath, Kellard

 

REFEREE: Darren Gamage

 

ATTENDANCE: 2,553

MATCH REPORT V DONCASTER

Bedford Blues lacked discipline in a lacklustre display at Doncaster.

 

The home side put in a dominant second half performance to brush aside the Blues 33-12, as they came crashing down to earth following last week's win over the Cornish Pirates.

 

Both sides lined up with players facing their former clubs.

 

Bedford’s Neil Cochrane, Jamie Lennard and Sean Tomes were making a return to Castle Park, while Donny’s Thomas Luke, Alex Brown and Adam Kettle lined up against their former employers.

 

Bedford fans had little to cheer about although Don Barrell and Josh Bassett did cross the whitewash, but in truth this was a clash which saw cards become more important than tries.

 

Bedford threw the game away in the second half when Brendan Burke and Phil Boulton were sent to the sin-bin with the scores close.

 

When they returned, the game had been lost through three quickfire Donny tries.

 

In the first period two late yellow cards for the home side had given Bedford a route into a game they looked to have already lost.

 

Michael Noone was sent to the bin for a high tackle on James Pritchard, followed soon after by Andrew Boyd, to get the Blues back into the game.

 

They had been trailing 13-0 after two David McIlwaine penalties and a breakaway try by Michael Keating after a superb run by Frederick Burdon set him up.

 

Despite not having put any score of the board the Blues spent most of the first half dominating possession and territory.

 

But the Knights defence stood firm, holding out against wave after wave of attack.

 

In contrast their forward play was ruthless, with McIlwaine slotting his penalties, while Pritchard pushed his only attempt wide.

 

It was only when tempers flared in the Donny side that Bedford got themselves back into the game.

 

Down to 13 men, the home side could not keep Bedford out and they scored a converted effort through Barrell in the last play of the half.

 

With eight minutes of the second half played and Doncaster still down to 13, Bedford again took advantage.

 

The in-form Bassett finished superbly after a darting Burke run.

 

Pritchard’s conversion cannoned back off the post but the scores were only separated by a point.

Bassett was harshly judged to have been held up moments later for what would have been his second before McIlwaine added a penalty.

 

Bedford never had a look in after that game-changer though as the Knights went on to romp to a deserved victory.

 

Burke and Boulton were sent to the bin after the Blues found themselves under siege on their own line.

 

And from the following scrum Donny scored a penalty try after the Blues were repeatedly penalised.

 

There was no flow in the Bedford play and they never once strung together their trademark running rugby.

 

Doncaster were the better all round team, excellent in defence, hardly missing a tackle and coming away from every attack with points.

 

With an array of replacements, Bedford were looking to come back into the game, but were punished on the counter when Dougie Flockhart finished a sweeping move.

 

To rub salt into the wounds, Doncaster got a bonus point, with their fourth try of the day when Andrew Boyd dotted down from the back of a maul, to end a miserable afternoon in south Yorkshire.

 

BLUES: Prichard (c), Vincent (Vass), Burke, Staff, Bassett, Lennard (Sharp), Veenendaal (Liebenberg), Steenkamp, Cochrane (Locke), Seal (Boulton), Howard, Pailor (Tomes), Johnson (Gillanders), Barrell, Tupai

 

DONCASTER: McIlwaine, Flockhart, Goss, Burdon, Keating (Toft), Luke (Gidlow), Hallam (c) (Heaney), Davies (Burke-Flynn), Boden (Yeadle), Brown, Challinor, Parsons, Boyde, Bradford (Kettle), Noone Replacement not used: Kenworthy

 

ATTENDANCE: 1,201

MATCH REPORT V PIRATES

As in politics, a week is a long time in sport. Seven days ago Bedford Blues were still licking their wounds after a crushing defeat at Bristol, but they put that to bed once and for all with a convincing bonus point triumph over the Cornish Pirates in the New Year’s Day clash at Goldington Road.

 

The game was effectively over as a contest by half time as scores from Henry Staff try-machine Josh Bassett, Darryl Veenendaal and Sacha Harding before the break put the Blues firmly in control against their Championship title rivals, ruthlessly exploiting some slack defending.

 

Pirates upped their game in the second half thanks to some fine work from their forwards at the set piece and in open play. Yet there was to be no repeat of the reverse fixture at the Mennaye back in October where the Cornish side fought back and threatened to snatch victory thanks to some manful defending by Mike Rayer’s side.

 

Nico Steenkamp went close to opening the scoring in the fourth minute after strong running from Bassett, Staff and Jake Sharp had taken the hosts to within striking distance, only for the prop to be held up over the line thanks to some desperate defence from the Pirates.

 

But just two minutes later the Blues were over. Sharp broke the line before flicking a pass out to support runner Staff. The centre then stepped on the gas and raced away to dot down in the corner, with James Pritchard’s conversion attempt fading across the posts and falling short.

 

Sharp was running the show from half back and it was his individual brilliance that led to Bassett’s 11th try of the season in the 12th minute. He sold the defence a dummy after spotting a gap, then fed the flying winger for him to score near the posts, giving Pritchard an easier shot at goal for the conversion.

 

The response of the Pirates was immediate though. Until this point they had few opportunities with the ball in hand, but a powerful charge from full back Rob Cook took them deep into Bedford territory. They then moved the ball quickly across the park, only for the attack to stop when Gavin Cattle’s pass went into touch.

 

However, the ball had taken a touch on a Blues player on the way out, giving the away side possession just ten metres from the line. They retained control of it with Dave Ward being driven over for a score out wide that Cook failed to convert. Bedford were now on the back foot and a penalty from full back Cook on 25 minutes drew the Pirates to within four.

 

Yet four minutes the hosts were over again from a move that started deep inside their own half. Once again the visiting defence proved surprisingly porous and Greg Gillanders exploited the gap to set up Veenendaal for their third try of the game, which Pritchard duly converted.

 

The bonus point was secured five minutes before the interval. Sharp’s kick to touch from a penalty put Bedford just metres from the line and their relentless pressure finally told when Harding crashed over from close range, with Canadian international Pritchard again adding the extras.

 

Right on the stroke of half time, Sharp landed an ambitious drop goal from nearly 35 metres and close to the touchline to further increase the lead to 21 points at the interval. Pritchard then extended the advantage further six minutes into the second period with a penalty from over 40 metres out.

 

The wet conditions meant it was plenty of up the jumper rugby from the visitors and once again it was the efforts of their pack that led to their second try of the game in the 54th minute. Repeated attacks were repelled by the Blues, but their resolve was eventually broken when Chris Morgan smashed his way through to dot down, only for Cook’s conversion attempt to come back off of the posts.

 

Two minutes later Pritchard saw a kick from a penalty go wide and he also did the same just after the hour mark. Bedford were then forced to spend much of the remainder of the game on the back foot as the Pirates came forward looking to secure at least a losing bonus point.

 

However, some excellent defence from the Blues ensured that they would be making the long journey back to Penzance without even that, lifting themselves up to second in the Championship in the process.

 

Line-Ups

 

Bedford Blues – Pritchard (captain); Vincent, Burke (Vass 63), Staff, Bassett; Sharp (Lennard 72), Veenendaal (Liebenberg 72); Steenkamp, Cochrane (C. Locke 78), Seal (Boulton 56), Howard (Tupai 56), Rae (Johnson 66), Gillanders, Harding, Barrell

 

Cornish Pirates – Cook; Evans, D. Locke, Cooper (Pointer 54), Doherty; Thomas (Kessel 63), Cattle (captain); Andrew (Rimmer 58), Ward (Cowan-Dickie 72), Paver (Fairbrother 72), Smith, Myerscough (Cowan 54), Morgan, Burgess (Ewers 72), Maidment

 

Referee – Steve Lee (Yorkshire)

MATCH REPORT V BRISTOL

Bedford Blues capitulated to Bristol and an unwanted league double as the hosts went in to the Christmas break at the top of the Championship table, keeping their unbeaten home record intact in front of a season's best 8,067 attendance at the Memorial Stadium.

They had gone in to this game with a three point lead over the Blues at the top of the table and with both sides out of the British and Irish Cup, they can concentrate on the Championship as the push for possible promotion, after the play-offs, to the Premiership. 

The opening 40 minutes was a stop-start affair littered by handling errors and dropped passes but the Blues, who produced a couple of encouraging breaks, were unable to breach the home defence. 

But Bristol went in to the break with a comfortable 19-6 lead having scored the only try of the half as outside centre Fautua Otto charged down the clearance kick from centre Henry Staff. 

The Samoan picked up the loose ball to run in from 20 metres and score under the posts. Fly-half Tristan Roberts added the simple conversion and also landed a drop goal and three penalties in the half. 

The Blues had applied the early pressure and took the lead after ten minutes with a 25 metre penalty from skipper James Pritchard with fly-half Jake Sharp adding a second after high tackle from Otto. 

Bedford again started the half by testing the Bristol defence but it was the home side that struck first and their forwards pushed the Blues back in to their own half after they squandered the early pressure. 

Scrum half Ruki Tipuna found right wing Jack Tovey on a crash run through a stretched Blues defence before off-loading to Otto to score his second try which Roberts duly converted. 

The Blues looked to have scored a try 16 minutes in to the second half when scrum half Darryl Veenendaal went bursting through but, after consulting with the TMO, referee Martin Fox disallowed the try for a knock on after a tackle from Otto. 

The visitors kept battling until the final whistle but unforced errors were their downfall in the heavy conditions as Bristol dominated the majority of the game with the Blues never appearing a real threat. 

Bristol now have a seven point lead at the top of the table with Roberts, who snatched victory for Bristol at Goldington Road at the beginning of October with a late conversion, ended this game with 16 points. 

Bristol: J Goodridge; J Tovey, F Otto, J Fatialofa, G Watkins (M James, 64); T Roberts, R Tipuna; M Irish (D Crompton, 59), R Johnston (R Lawrence, 75), J Hobson (W Thompson, 69), M Sambucetti (G Townson, 59), R Winters, M Mama, J Merriman (capt), D Montagu.

Reps (not used): D Barry, M Keyte.  

Scorers - tries: F Otto 2; cons: T Roberts 2; pens: T Roberts 3; dg: T Roberts,  

Bedford Blues: J Pritchard (capt); D Vincent, B Burke (T Bedford, 75), H Staff, J Bassett; J Sharp (J Lennard, 64), D Veenendaal (L Baldwin, 64); N Steenkamp (D Seal, 51), C Locke (N Cochrane, 49), P Boulton, M Howard, P Tupai (B Johnson, 44), A Rae (G Gillanders, 68), S Harding, D Barrell.  

Scorers - pens: J Pritchard, J Sharp.  

Referee: M Fox (Leicestershire)

 

Att: 8067

MATCH REPORT V LLANELLI

Despite Bedford Blues snatching a last gasp draw against Llanelli at Goldington Road yesterday, it was not enough to keep them in the British and Irish Cup.

Both sides played out a fascinating game of rugby, with Bedford snatching the draw in the seventh minute of injury time. 

Luke Baldwin, playing his first game for Bedford this season, scored the important try, while Henry Staff and Billy Johnson added the other two scores. 

Llanelli’s number 10 was the spoiler of the day, kicking 20 points for the away side. However the draw was not enough to get into the next stage of the competition. 

With both teams’ future in the competition at stake, the game didn’t have the pace that its prize deserved. The Welsh side were the first to get on the score board with two identical penalties from fly half Dan Newton.

Yet both sides remained impotent in attack, unable to capitalise on possession. Jamie Lennard added a penalty of his own after a superb interception from Gregor Gillanders, in his first game since his serious knee injury in the cup final of the competition back in May.

Newton added another penalty for Llanelli before the Blues crossed the whitewash for the first time. The score though had an element of fortune about it, Andy Fenby’s clearance ricocheting off the crowd and back into his hands. Gillanders pounced on him to turn over the ball and it was recycled to Johnson who dotted down his first try for the club. Lennard missed the extras before the Welsh took control of the half with a score of their own.

Mark Kohler failed to deal with a Daniel Evans’ up-and-under and Iolo Evans made the break before offloading to the scoring Johnny Lewis, Newton adding the conversion. 

The game often struggled to flow with both sides guilty of errors in hand, with the occasional dropped or forward pass ruining the flow. 

Lennard put Bedford back in contention before Staff dotted down to fire up the tie. Shaun Hopkins had been sent to the bin for the first of his two yellows and Bedford capitalised with the man advantage. 

Lennard, who will admit to not having his best game, had a big part to play in the score, shimmying around the Llanelli man, before offloading to Staff who scored. Lennard converted to give the Blues their only lead in the game. 

The Blues were buoyed by their replacements, and the man advantage but were punished for not adding more on the board. They were hurt by two late Newton penalties that looked to have won the game for the Welsh side.

One of his free kicks had resulted in a punch-up, which saw Phil Boulten sent to the bin and Hopkins sent off for his second yellow. And while initially this didn’t count for much, Bedford made their extra man advantage pay when Boulton was allowed back onto the pitch. 

With seconds left on the clock, the Blues pressed for the try they needed, and slowly ebbed their way back into the game. 

Baldwin, on his first appearance in the Blue jersey, went down the blindside and despite being initially held up, got down to tap the ball down. 

Lennard, held his nerve to collect the extra two points that gave the home side the draw that their performance had warranted. And despite crashing out Mike Rayer will no doubt be delighted with the never-say-die attitude of his boys. 

BEDFORD: Kohler (Bassett), Vincent, Staff, Vass, Bedford, Lennard, Liebenberg (Baldwin), Steenkamp, Locke (Cochrane), Seal (Boulton), Johnson (Howard), Pailor, Gillanders, Rae (White), Barrell Unused replacements: Sharp  

LLANELLI: Evans D, James, Evans I , Lewis, Fenby (Williams J), Newton, Williams, Hopkins, Hawkins (Myhill), Gardiner (Hopkins A), Powell Ad White, Gilbert, Eager (Price), Powell Al (Thomas) Unused replacements: Bayliss, Davies  

 

ATTENDANCE: 1906

MATCH REPORT V ROTHERHAM

One point settled the game at Goldington Road as Bedford Blues overcame a resolute Rotherham Titans.

 

Having lost last week at London Welsh by the smallest margin, the Blues were able eke out a 24-23 victory against the South Yorkshire side.

 

Identical tries from Sam Walsh and Sacha Harding, along with an effort from Chris Locke and a 100 per cent kicking performance from James Pritchard, sealed the win.

 

However, it was Rotherham’s Garry Law who would cost the away side victory, missing a late penalty from well within his range.

 

He was a law unto himself until that point, the fly-half taking all Rotherham’s points bar a try from Robin Copeland.

 

He kicked an early penalty before dotting down and converting his own try, after Pale Nonu picked up the ball from Mike Howard’s knock-on.

 

The intensity of the game took its toll on the Blues, and they lost Sean Tomes and Handre Schmidt through injury after 30 minutes.

 

The latter had been involved in the first of Bedford’s carbon copy tries, winning the penalty before the team mauled their way over the line – Walsh emerging with the ball.

 

Law added another penalty before Harding dotted down the Blues’ second try of the afternoon, and gave them the lead of a single point going into the break, with Pritchard getting the extras.

 

Bedford came out looking to increase their lead after half time and were in the perfect position to do so when Titans were reduced to 14 men.

 

But despite Barney Maddison being in the bin, Rotherham took the lead through Copeland after a successful drive by wing Shame Monahan. Law added the extras.

 

Blues hit back immediately through Chris Locke, the hooker getting on the end of a flowing move to dot down, after Bedford showed their opposition they could pass the ball wide from a lineout.

 

Pritchard kicked the conversion before Rotherham’s coach Andre Bester was sent to the stands. 

The Bedford full back then kicked a penalty to briefly give the Blues breathing space, but Law kicked a penalty goal of his own to bring the difference between the two sides back to just the single point. 

The Titans pressed for the winning score, and came close through Tom Foden – brother of England full back Ben – who could only knock on with the whitewash begging. 

Then came Law’s miss, which drifted left of the posts from 35 metres in the final moments. 

Bedford Blues XV: Pritchard (C), Schmidt (Staff), Burke, Vass, Bassett, Sharp, Veenendaal, Walsh (Steenkamp), Locke, Boulton (Seal), Howard, Tomes (Johnson), Rae, Harding, Tupai (Barrell) Replacements: Liebenberg, Lennard  

Attendance: 1,964

 

Referee: Matthew Carley

MATCH REPORT V LONDON WELSH

A missed drop goal was the difference between the Bedford Blues and London Welsh in a thrilling encounter at Old Deer Park.

 

Bedford looked to be in a position to steal the win from the Exiles in the embers of the clash between second and third in the league, but Jamie Lennard’s drop goal attempt drifted wide to give the home side the 25-24 win.

 

Tries from James Pritchard and Josh Bassett, as well as a penalty score, had put the Blues in contention for a victory they would have hardly deserved.

 

The game began in uncomfortable fashion for the Blues as the home side raced into a 12-point lead. The Exiles were far better in the opening moments and could have crossed the whitewash on more occasions than they actually did.

 

Their first try came after Will Hurrell was held up on the line by Bedford’s Handre Schmidt, but despite the winger’s valiant efforts, the ball was recycled to Guillermo Roan, who crashed over.

 

The normally reliable Alex Davies fired his conversion on to the post, but it wasn’t long until the Exiles were on the scoreboard again.

 

Bedford struggled initially to hold off the London Welsh scrum, but when they eventually turned the ball over Darryl Veenendaal’s clearance landed straight in the arms of Joe Awuja, who was able to play it out wide, where Hudson Tonga’uiha capitalised to score.

 

Davies made no mistake with the extras, before the Blues finally managed to get points on the board with their first attack.

 

Veenendaal atoned for his error after collecting the ball from a Bedford attacking lineout, darting through the Welsh defence and offloading to Pritchard, who dotted down and converted his effort.

 

Not to be outdone, Welsh number nine Rob Lewis responded with a similar jinking run through the Bedford line before throwing a long pass to Ajuwa, who could not fail to score.

 

Davies converted to give the home side a 19-7 lead with the half closing in, but Bedford were determined to finish the stronger side.

 

Irked by the poor showing in the scrum earlier in the half, the Blues forwards forced London Welsh into conceding a penalty try after the home side gave countless penalties away, which also resulted in Roan being sent to the bin.

 

Pritchard converted and then nearly had a chance to get his second after Veenendaal was injured and Josh Bassett, in his place, made a superb 40-metre run, although the full-back was tackled into touch with the line at his mercy.

 

The Blues came off the blocks in the second half looking to add to the momentum they put in at the end of the first period. Jake Sharp and Schmidt combined, before the latter was taken out with a high tackle, and although the attacking lineout was wasted it wasn’t long before they took the lead through in form winger Bassett.

 

He finished off a move started by Brendan Burke, who found the gap in the Exiles defence before offloading to Pritchard who made up the extra ground. The Canadian international then put in the former colt who scored under pressure from Ajuwa. With Pritchard receiving treatment, Sharp stepped up to slot the extras before Davies added a penalty for the home side.

 

However, the Blues were lucky only to concede three points after Gordon Ross intercepted a Bedford pass but could only force the infringement and not the try. 

Davies then hit another penalty to restore Exiles’ lead, but with only one point between them, the game was set up for a grandstand finish. Both sides were guilty of making errors, with Davies missing two late penalties, the second cannoning back off the post, and for a moment it looked like it would cost them the game. 

Picking up the ball from the resulting open play Bedford charged forward looking for the winning point they needed. But Jamie Lennard’s late drop goal attempt dipped wide deep into added time. 

Bedford Blues XV: Pritchard (c), Schmidt, Burke (Staff), Bedford, Bassett, Sharp (Lennard), Veenendaal (Liebenberg), Walsh (Steenkamp), Locke, Boulton (Seal), Howard, Tomes (Johnson), Rae, Harding, Tupai. Replacements: Pailor

 

Referee: Tim Wigglesworth

MATCH REPORT V ESHER

An assured first half display against bottom side Esher ensured the Bedford Blues continued their excellent current league form.

 

With yesterday’s opposition sitting bottom of the league, with just a single point to their name, the Blues took 43 minutes to brush them aside 41-13.

 

A first half brace from Josh Bassett, along with scores from Marl Kohler, James Pritchard, as well as tries in the opening moments of the second period from Darryl Veenendaal, and Paul Tupai – on his 100th appearance for the club, gave the home side the convincing win.

 

However it was the league’s bottom side who started brightly, with their Fijian fly-half Nicky Little putting away a penalty, before Pritchard cancelled it out with three points of his own.

 

But the Surrey club could not cope with the creativity of the Bedford no.9 Daryl Veenendaal, who throughout the clash was spotting space to run and pass into.

When former Blue Chris Goodman was sent to the bin ten minutes into the half, the task of finding that space became easier for the scrum half and it is little surprise that the half-back had a part to play in two quick fire scores when Esher were down to 14.

 

Veenendaal first found Pritchard with a delightful offload, who then raced down the park, before passing to Bassett to finish. Pritchard converted before Veenendaal contributed to the second score two minutes later with a 40 metre charge down the wing. Although the combination of Bassett and Sacha Harding could not get the ball across the whitewash, Jamie Lennard had the presence of mind to pull off a cross field kick to the opposite wing, where Kohler was quite happy to dot down.

 

With the two tries, and the away side back to 15, the game stifled, with both sides content to play the patient game. Although Esher offered little in attack, they were resolute in defence holding up Veenendaal and Phil Boulton.

 

Little added another three points, but the first half threatened to fizzle out, Pritchard brought a touch of class to proceedings. Picking up the ball in the midfield, the fullback emerged through a pack of bodies, beat two Esher defenders before beating his Canada teammate Phil MacKenzie for pace to dot down his grubber kick. The no. 15 converted his effort, but there was still time in the half for the home side to secure their bonus point before the break.

 

Chris Locke was the initial instigator, with an impressive show and go to make up the metres before the ball was recycled wide to Brendan Burke. He forced the play forward before Bassett moped up the scraps and secured the try.

 

If the game wasn’t dead at the break, the Blues made sure it was in the second period.

 

From the restart, the Goldington Road outfit applied the pressure on their counterparts, and were immediately rewarded with a try from Veenendaal that his performance warranted.

 

Kohler charged down an Esher clearance to win back the ball and from the resulting ruck, the scrum half dived over the whitewash.

 

But Bedford were not content to sit back and instead pressed for their sixth try of the afternoon.

 

Appropriately the final home score of the day came from Tupai in his century game in a Blues shirt.

 

The Samoan crashed over the line in a manner after the Blues pack dominated the Esher back line.

 

Pritchard converted both efforts to seal the win with most of the second half still to play.

 

Esher came back into the game although Bedford could be forgiven for taking their foot off of the accelerator. 

The Surrey side enjoyed spells of possession but rarely threatened to take points, although their hard work was rewarded with a try from halfback Jaime MacKenzie, who dotted down from the back of a ruck. Little converted in the 45th minute, and it would turn out to be the last addition to the score board of the afternoon. 

Esher continued with their pressure and phases play in Bedford territory but the home side held out, and were a touch fortunate that the away side’s danger man Charlie Walker knocked on before dotting down. However with the clock ticking the home side remained strong in defence and held out to secure their third league win on the bounce.

 

BEDFORD BLUES STARTING XV: Pritchard (c), Kohler, Burke (Dodge (Sharp)), Bedford, Bassett, Lennard, Veenendaal (Liebenberg), Steenkamp (Boulton), Locke (Allen), Boulton (Seal), Howard (Pailor), Tomes, Rae, Harding (Johnson), Tupai

MATCH REPORT V MOSELEY

Bedford blues beat Moseley by 13 points to seal their first home win since September and only their second in the Champion - ship this term, though it would have been a far more enjoyable experience but for some overly fastidious officiating.

 

It was a relatively high scoring game, considering it was never really allowed to flow. Five scores including an eighth of the season for young winger Josh Bassett, one apiece for Mark Kohler, Mike Howard and Sacha Harding and a penalty try were added to by returning captain James Pritchard’s 12 punted points.

 

But referee Michael Tutty’s by-the-book approach just served to annoy the home support. Four times Bedford thought they’d touched down only to be told twice that Moseley had held the ball up, while the official consulted the touch judge on the other occasions before awarding the points.

 

Blues dominated the early stages but it took until the 11th minute for the breakthrough, which came via the boot of Pritchard after Moseley were penalised for not rolling away in the tackle.

 

With the visitors not having set foot in Bedford territory during that time, the home defence may well have been caught on the hop, but from the restart the Midlanders’ fly half Thomas Oliver notched a simple penalty to even the scores up. But then it was Mr Tutty who took centre stage with a decision that denied the Blues an opening try.

 

Tom Bedford was adjudged to have been held up on the line and, though it riled the Goldington Road crowd, frustrations were eased as Phil Boulton spearheaded the Bedford pressure at the scrum which saw Moseley continue to infringe.

 

Eventually, Mr Tutty awarded a penalty try and Pritchard converted to make in 10-3.

 

Darryl Veenendaal ferreted through a gap in Moseley’s defence as the half hour approached, but as the home crowd piped up to celebrate a score, Mr Tutty once more signalled that a red and black body had prevented the grounding.

 

But with grumblings of discontent starting to surface again, Brendan Burke and Pritchard did all the legwork to feed Bassett, who steamed under the posts from the short side to lift the mood, while Pritchard collected the extras.

 

Again, Moseley reduced the arrears as William Robinson went over in the corner, but only after Mr Tutty had consulted his assistant. Oliver added the two.

 

The official provided a tense finale to the half with another moment of consultation as he was unsighted when Kohler barrelled over in the corner.

 

Pritchard was unlucky to hit the crossbar so Bedford went in at the interval with a 22-10 lead.

 

But the points scoring tit-for-tat carried on as the second session was only seconds old. A Blues kick from deep was charged down and Neil Mason was the eventual beneficiary with a finish that Oliver added to, bringing Moseley within five points. As the hour approached Howard battered his way to the line but again Mr Tutty signalled that a Moseley man had made an intervention.

 

A try was eventually awarded but had his assistant not informed him otherwise, then this contest would have undoubtedly been the visitors’ entry in this year’s Most Nimble Tacklers in the Championship Award. Pritchard hit his mark again with the conversion to put more than a score’s worth of daylight between the sides.

 

A further penalty from the skipper on 69 minutes made it 32-17 before Harding ran the length of Moseley’s half to dot down in the corner. Pritchard again hit the woodwork.

 

There was still time for a late converted consolation score from Moseley’s Mason as he notched his brace, but after a torrid time at Goldington Road of late it was the five points on the board for Blues that mattered most.

 

BLUES: Pritchard, Kohler, Burke, Bedford (Dodge 73), Bassett, Sharp (Lennard, 73), Veenendaal (Liebenberg, 78), Walsh (Seal, 68), Cochrane (Locke, 40), Boulton, Howard, Tomes (Pailor, 73), Rae, Harding, Tupai (Barrell, 66)

 

MOSELEY: Carter (Davies, 70), Robinson, King (Adams), Reay, Hunt, Thomas, Glynn (Brown, 66), Warren, Caves (O’Donnell,, 78), Voisey (Thomas, 78), Lyons (Spiver, 66), Sanderson, Daniel, Mason, Pennycook, Ellery (Maltman, 73)

 

REFEREE: Michael Tutty

 

ATTENDANCE:  2,429

MATCH REPORT V PLYMOUTH

Bedford Blues responded to last week’s defeat to Leeds with a 17-point victory over Plymouth Albion at Brickfields on Guy Fawkes Night.

 

The Blues scored five tries as they swept aside their hosts in a game that was more workmanlike than explosive.

 

The Blues had secured a bonus point before the interval with tries from Mike Howard, Ollie Dodge, Tom Bedford and Josh Bassett before Jake Sharp dotted down late on to add to his 13 kicked points. Before yesterday Plymouth had not conceded more than two tries at home all season.

 

Nerves seemed the get the better of Bedford in attack in the early stages as Handre Schmidt and Sacha Harding conceded early penalties when the Blues were metres from the Plymouth try line.

 

However, with Albion offering little in offence, Bedford were handed more opportunities and crossed the whitewash twice in quick succession.

 

The first try came through the excellent hands of Alex Rae playing in Bedford. He made up the yards, before the play was recycled to Howard who crashed over.

 

Almost instantly Dodge bundled over to dot down, but again the lead up saw a sweeping move by the entire team. Bassett combined with Paul Tupai and Chris Locke, before the ball was recycled through to Brenden Burke. His magic created the space for Dodge to run into and the centre made no mistake. Sharp slotted both conversions to give take the extras.

 

It wasn’t until they were 14-0 down that Plymouth ventured into the Bedford 22 for their first attack.

However, it was to be shortlived, as a calamitous error lead to the third Bedford score. Tyler Hotson’s pass was intercepted by centre Bedford, who ran the 80 metres up the pitch to touch down under the posts. Sharp cannoned in the conversion before Plymouth hit back with a score of their own.

 

The Albion pushed into the Blues 22 through their forwards, edging yard by yard in a number of phases before the ball was played out wide to Keni Fisilau, who dotted down. James Love kicked the extras, but Bedford were not done scoring.

 

With a minute left before the break, Harding played in Bassett, who danced around Love to score their bonus point try.

 

Sharp converted to keep his 100 per cent kicking record in the half.

 

The second period saw Plymouth come out of the blocks with more intent, but boss Mike Rayer will be pleased that his side were much more resilient in defence this week.

 

Handre Schmidt made a notable tackle on the wing on Tyson Lewis, but then Albion scored their second try of the afternoon.

 

After kicking to touch from a penalty, the home side included nearly every player in the maul that forced its way over the Bedford line.

 

Aaron Carpenter emerged with the ball, with Love converting. Sharp responded with a penalty to increase the pressure on the south west side, but they kept on pressing as they chased the game.

 

Last week against Leeds, the Blues collapsed under similar circumstances, and although Albion’s Lewis crossed the whitewash for a converted effort with ten minutes remaining, Bedford gathered their composure to close out the game.

 

Sharp, instrumental with the boot and with hand, ended an excellent game with a converted try of his own.

 

The Bedford pack inched their way towards the Plymouth try line before the ball found its way to the fly-half, who dummied his way into the gap to finish.

 

The character of the whole squad and their desire to win was encapsulated in a single moment in the dying embers of the match.

 

Replacement Dale Farnham found space behind the Bedford defence and looked certain to give the home side a bonus point.

 

Enter Locke, who tackled from the side, held the man up, and pushed him out of play. Sharp missed a late penalty, but they had already atoned for last week’s defeat. With another long trip on the road to Melrose next week, Rayer now has to work out how to bring this away form back to Goldington Road.

 

Plymouth Albion XV: Love, McGrath (Nowell), Armitage, Fisalau, Lewis, Bailey (Lee), Cushion (c) (Farnham), Dugard, Evans, Hopkins, Lockley (Tyas), Hotson, Hocking (Stupple), Sprangle, Carpenter Replacements: Morton,McGreggor

 

Bedford Blues XV: Burke, Schmidt (Vincent), Dodge (Vass), Bedford, Bassett, Sharp, Liebenberg (Veenendaal), Steenkamp (Seal), Locke (Allen), Boulton, Howard, Tomes (Pailor), Rae (c), Harding (Johnson), Tupai

 

Referee: Paul Knowles

 

Attendance: 1,455

MATCH REPORT V LEEDS

Bedford Blues’ worrying home form continued yesterday as they fell to pieces in a horrendous defeat to Leeds Carnegie.

 

Despite crossing the whitewash on four occasions with a brace from Josh Bassett and a Don Barrell effort, as well as a penalty score, the Blues lost out 45-28 to a Leeds side that were rampant in the final ten minutes.

 

A superb performance from Leeds’ outside centre Iain Thornley and winger Stephen McColl created the win for the Yorkshire side.

 

Despite one of the most one-sided opening 20 minutes of rugby at Goldington Road, the hosts eventually collapsed in concerning fashion, with unforced errors and missed tackles causing all of their problems in the second period.

 

However, it had looked for much the first period that Bedford would storm to victory after they camped on the Leeds try line, with the away side content to simply give away penalties at the breakdown and in the scrum.

Carnegie were lucky not to concede a penalty score, given their lack of discipline, but they did have Chris Walker sent to the bin for repeated infringements.

 

Barrell crossed the whitewash moments later when the Leeds forwards caved into the man advantage and the No.8 dotted down.

 

That seemed to knock the visitors back as the Blues got their second soon after through in-form winger Bassett. The former colt got on the end of a sweeping Bedford move.

 

The usually reliable James Pritchard missed the conversions, and was made to rue not taking the extra points as Leeds came back into the game.

 

Despite the one-sided nature of the game, the Yorkshire outfit scored in their first attack to give their young side a boost of confidence.

 

The score was down to missed tackles on the charging former England winger Michael Stephenson, who offloaded for Thornley to dot down.

 

Pritchard kicked a penalty before fullback Tommy Bell booted three penalties in quick succession after the Blues made unforced errors and missed tackles to give the visitors a lead at the break.

 

That was despite Carnegie playing with 14 men as Tom Denton was sent to the bin before Bell struck the nine points with his boot.

 

Jake Sharp and Pritchard were taken off at the break due to injury, and with both kickers off the pitch Jamie Lennard was given the duties and rifled a penalty through the posts early into the second period.

 

But the two-point lead did not last as Leeds scored their second try through McColl.

 

The winger found himself all alone after the Yorkshire side’s attack outnumbered the Blues defence, and the No.11 out-sprinted Tom Bedford to score, with Bell adding the extras.

 

The hosts tried to hit back immediately and Lennard looked certain to score when he raced through Leeds, but he was held up on the line by a superb tackle from Thornley.

 

The away side could not cope with the Blues’ pack and conceded a penalty which Lennard converted before Bedford then hit back with undoubtedly the score of the day.

 

Inevitably it came from Bassett racing down the line to score his sixth try in five games. But huge credit had to go to Sacha Harding whose world class offload to Bedford allowed Bassett the space to score.

 

Lennard’s missed conversion would not matter as Thornley charged his way over the line to score his second despite holding off two tackles by Bassett and Handre Schmidt.

 

Bell converted the extras to even the scores before they took the lead outright with their bonus point try and the start of the onslaught.

 

Thornley was again involved, offloading to Joe Barker after making up the metres before Robbie Shaw dotted down. Bell continued his consistency with the boot to pick up the extras.

 

The unforced errors continued when the fullback slotted a penalty and further increased the lead.

 

That was before McColl pounced to compound Bedford’s misery with a converted breakaway score after the home side failed to deal with their own restart. Bell converted the two points which sealed the well deserved win.

 

Bedford Blues XV: Pritchard (c) (Schmidt), Vincent, Dodge, Bedford, Bassett, Sharp (Lennard), Veenendaal (Liebenberg), Walsh, Locke (Allen), Seal (Boulton), Pailor (Tomes), Howard (Tupai), Rae, Harding, Barrell

 

Leeds XV: Bell, Stephenson (Blackett), Thornley, Barker, McColl, Ford, Hampson (Hemingway), Denman (Lockwood), Nilsen (Freer), Young (Swaiton), Denton (Beck), Hohneck, Barrow (Shaw), Walker, Rowan (c)

 

Attendance: 2,763

 

Referee: Ross Cambell

MATCH REPORT V LONDON SCOTTISH

Bedford Blues gave London Scottish six of the best in a rout by the River Thames with an outstanding second half to brush aside the Exiles in a 41-15 win.

 

A brace from Sacha Harding, as well as scores from James Pritchard, Neil Cochrane, Josh Basset and Tom Bedford gave the Blues a comfortable win.

 

Although London Scottish threatened at times they were no match for the Blues who looked dominant in every area of the pitch. Despite the Exiles coming at them in fits and starts the Blues killed the game off in the second half, with the superior fitness levels the difference.

 

Pritchard put the Blues ahead with an early penalty, but in truth the opening exchanges were very even. For the first half an hour the main difference between the two sides was Jake Sharp. The young fly half was involved in every attacking move, and was the creative spark that tied together Bedford’s quick ball through the backs which was the source of London’s problems.

 

The half back burst through the Scottish defence, dummying past a number of the home side’s men as an early warning, before narrowly putting a drop goal attempt wide. The young fly half had a part to play in Bedford’s first two scores, picking the ball up in the centre and dummying to create space, before passing to Pritchard who dotted down in the corner.

 

The fullback converted his own effort, before Mike Rayer’s side crossed the whitewash for their second in a matter of minutes.

 

After a superb penalty kick into the corner, Blues won their attacking line out and mauled over the line. Harding emerged triumphant with the ball, but Pritchard missed the extras.

 

Despite being 15-0 up the Exiles had looked dangerous in spurts, in particular their new Argentinian signings, Agustin Gosio and Alfredo Lallane looked threatening with the ball in hand.

 

And it was scrum half Lallane who helped Scottish eke back the deficit with a try of his own, after he picked up the ball from a lineout on the Bedford 22. Just back from the World Cup, he evaded a tackle from Darryl Veenendaal to dot down.

 

James Brown missed the conversion but added a penalty of his own two minutes before the half was out.

 

The Blues came out of the blocks looking to score quickly in open play, Bedford and Harding combined well on one wing before Dave Vincent and Ollie Dodge linked up to put pressure on the home side.

 

Having won the line-out, the Blues pack mauled over the line and barged over the whitewash to extend their lead. Cochrane emerged with the ball, but Pricthard missed the conversion.

 

Although Bedford pressed for a bonus point, it was Scottish who crossed the whitewash next, although the term ‘against the run of play’ has never been more appropriate. Sharp had broken through the home side’s line with, what is fast turning into a trade mark dummy, but Bedford could only knock on with the whitewash in his sights.

 

From the penalty the Exiles broke forward through Ollie Holmes. The ball was recycled to Gosio who sprinted 50 metres to the try line, escaping a last-ditch tackle from Don Barrell to score.

 

Brown kicked the extras to bring the scores to within five points, and swing the momentum towards the home side.

 

However, as the hosts pressed for a winner themselves, the game opened up and a wayward pass by Brown was punished.

 

The ball was kicked away by Harding who gathered possession, recycled the play through Sam Walsh who offloaded to Bassett. The winger secured the bonus point with his fourth try in four games.

 

Pritchard kicked the extras before Bassett had to play a part in Harding’s second. The winger stopped short of the try line, but the flanker dotted down after the breakdown. Pritchard converted before some clever replacements gave the Blues a new lease of life to well and truly kill the game.

 

Jamie Lennard shuffled through London and via Paul Tupai the ball found its way to Bedford for an easy try. Pritchard kicked the extras to seal the excellent win.

 

London Scottish XV: Grove, Holgate, Holmes (Brown), Trueman, Gosio, Brown (Ratford), Lallane, Clarke (Kwasnicki), Standfield (Thiede), Liffchak, Pape (Rudzki), Thomas, Andrews, Calder (c) (Lonergan) Lipp Replacements: Heeks

 

Bedford Blues XV: Pritchard (c), Vincent, Burke,(Bedford) Dodge, Bassett, Sharp (Lennard), Veenedaal (Liebenberg), Walsh, Cochrane (Locke), Seal (Buxton), Howard (Tupai), Tomes, Rae, Harding (Pailor), Barrell

 

Referee: Stephen Lee

MATCH REPORT V DONCASTER

Ladies’ Day certainly wasn’t pretty, but it provided an entertaining draw with Doncaster Knights.

 

But despite the hard fought 18-18 Bedford Blues will be rueing the fact that they could have taken the win had Jaime Lennard brought his kicking boots with him.

 

With James Pritchard back from the Rugby World Cup, many were surprised to see Lennard had claimed the kicking duties and, although he slotted an early penalty to give an early lead to the men wearing pink for charity, it was about as good as it got for the fly half facing his former club.

 

The decision to let the No.10 take the responsibility was questionable after he dragged six kicks wide – five penalties and one conversion – and cost the Blues 17 points.

 

Although it may be harsh to point the blame at one player, Bedford were under par in the first half but should have won the game given their possession in the second period.

 

After Tom Luke equalised for the Knights, Latu Makaafi gave the Blues a scare when he broke through the home side’s back line, only for Brendan Burke to tidy up and prevent the try.

 

But Doncaster did cross the line moments later after a loose kick in field by Lennard was picked up by David McIlwaine. The ball was offloaded to Michael Keating who collected his upand- under to dot down unchallenged next to the posts.

 

The Goldington Road crowd were incensed after both sides stopped in the build-up as they believed the original pass had gone forward. But the score was allowed with Luke getting the extras and Blues boss Mike Rayer will be very disappointed that his side did not play to the whistle.

 

Luke then missed an attempt at goal before Bedford enjoyed a spell of possession deep into Donny territory. Having won a penalty at the breakdown, the hosts opted for the attacking line-out but they failed to get any points on the board after moving the ball forward.

 

The Goldington Road outfit, where disjointed in their play, lacked a cutting edge and made far too many handling errors in the first half, which often compromised their attacking intent.

 

As well as Lennard’s misfiring boot the Blues were let off after Sasha Harding’s pass was intercepted by Keating, but the winger could only knock on with his attempt to secure the ball.

 

Although Bedford was relatively impotent in attack, they were not aided by the referee, who in the final moments of the half, twice penalised the men in pink for a forward pass and an offside. Both decisions incensed the home fans. Going down the slope in the second period, the Blues looked more composed in attack, playing quick ball across the backs, although they were stopped by another forward pass.

 

Rayer introduced Don Barrell, Mike Howard and Darrly Veenendaal into the game and their presence, along with a fine second half performance from Burke and Bassett, started to see the home side shift through the gears.

 

And that momentum brought them the score the second period deserved through Neil Cochrane. The hooker picked up the ball from the blindside of a mauled line-out to dot down. Lennard took the extras and the equalising score sparked the Blues into life with every player in pink wanting to handle the ball and put pressure on the opposition.

 

Pritchard and Bassett made forays into the Knights’ five-metre line but the home side had to make do with just three points from Lennard’s boot.

 

Makaafi was then sent to the bin for cynically knocking the ball out of Veenendaal’s hands while he was trying to take a quick tap. Despite the man advantage the Blues could not apply any more pressure on the south Yorkshire side and Lennard was punished for missing his fourth penalty, when Luke slotted his second to even the scores.

 

Bedford were camped in Doncaster’s half for much of the final stages and they eventually came good with a score from Bassett, who finished a sweeping, quintessential Blues move off that had started on the opposite wing from fine work by Burke and Ollie Dodge, before being recycled out wide to the former colt.

 

However, Lennard missed the extras and proved costly as PJ Gidlow crossed the whitewash almost immediately for the away side but Luke also missed the conversion to keep the scores level.

 

Lennard squandered his fifth penalty of the afternoon and Blues were nearly punished when McIlwaine saw a penalty kick from inside his own half bounce off the posts and into the hands of Cochrane. Deep into stoppage time, the Blues pressed for the winner but it came to nothing and they had to settle for the draw.

 

Bedford Blues XV: Pritchard (c), Schmidt, Burke, Bedford (Dodge), Bassett, Lennard, Liebenberg (Veenendaal), Steenkamp (Walsh), Cochrane, Seal, Pailor (Howard), Tomes, Rae, Harding, Tupai (Barrell) Replacements: Locke, Sharp

Doncaster Knights: XV: McIlwaine, Flockhart, Goss, Gidlow (Whielow), Keating, Luke,Hallam (c) Corsar (Davies), Boden (Yeandle), Brown, Challinor (Boyde), Parsons, Makaafi (Noone), Farivarz (Bradford), Planchant Replacement: Audis 

Referee: Martin Fox 

Attendance: 3573

MATCH REPORT V LONDON WELSH

Whether it was down to the luck of the Irish, or pure character, determination and grit by the Bedford Blues, they came away from their British and Irish cup clash with a win.

The Blues won a frenetic encounter against London Welsh 33-30 at the Avenue, the spiritual home of London Irish in Sunbury on Thames, thanks to a last-minute score from Josh Bassett. 

The young winger put away and effort in the corner when some generous refereeing gifted the Blues after squandering three previous scoring opportunities. 

Before that, scores from Sam Walsh and Don Barrell and a 100 per cent kicking effort from Jake Sharp had matched a tries from Simon Whatling and Alex Davies for the home side. Davies also added 20 points from the boot for the Exiles. 

Sharp though opened the scoring early on with a penalty, as Bedford started brightly - with plenty of possession putting pressure deep into Welsh territory. 

However, the home side crossed the whitewash first against the run of play. No.8 Benjamin Russell forced his way through the Bedford line before the ball was recycled to Whatling who dummied effectively to create the gap and score. Davies put away the conversion, before slotting another penalty goal between the posts.

Sharp and Davies exchanged a further pair of penalties each as the game was played out in the midfield, often with mistakes leading to point scoring opportunities. However, Bedford ended the half with a score of their own, through prop Walsh. Referee Greg Macdonald brought play back for a penalty after generous advantage, which angered the home fans, and from the following line out, the Blues mauled over the line. Sharp took the extras to equal the scores at the break. 

That momentum carried into the second period when Barrell dotted down after taking the ball from an attacking line-out, and slipping through the Exiles back line close to the ground. Sharp took the points on offer before the Blues allowed the impetus to swing back to the home side. 

Liam Gibson had been sent to bin for deliberately scooping the balll out of the ruck before Barrell's, which made the swing even more surprising. Welsh winger Ashley Smith picked up the ball on the wing on the halfway line and ran through, what seemed to be the entire Bedford side, like a hot knife through butter. By the time he passed to Whatling, he had made up 55 metres and the centre simply offloaded to Davies who scored. The fly half missed the extras, but added two penalties moments later to give the Exiles the lead. Sharp added another goal, before Davies restored a four point lead with yet another penalty. 

Bedford were then let off when a grubber kick from Russell went over the deadball line when Welsh players were chasing, before Bassett grabbed his late score to give Bedford the win in injury time. Sharp put away the extras with the last kick of the game, to maintain Blues' 100 per cent record in the competition, and do the double over London Welsh. 

London Welsh XV: Mullen (Ajuwa), Gibson, Mackey, Whatling, Smith, Davies, Winter-Moates (Stevenson), Nelson (Ma’asi), Moss (Roan), Johnson (Powell), Purdy, Beach (Taione), Denbee, Russell 

Replacements: Jewell 

Bedford Blues XV: Kohler, Vincent, Awenat, Dodge, Bassett, Sharp, Veenendaal (Price), Walsh, Locke (Cochrane), Buxton, Pailor, Howard (Tomes), Johnson (Rae), Messum, Barrell (c) 

Replacements: Cambell, Lennard, Bedford

MATCH REPORT V PIRATES

Bedford Blues returned to form with a fantastic win against the previously unbeaten Cornish Pirates.

 

Not many sides go to Mennaye Field and come away with victory, but the Blues will return home with not only a moral boosting triumph, but a bonus point to boot after the 34-24 win. 

Tries from Stefan Liebenberg, Josh Bassett, Don Barrell and Duncan Taylor, and 14 points from the boot of Jamie Lennard gave the away team the win. 

In a performance that cast out the memories of two previously poor league defeats to Rotherham and Bristol, every player wearing a blue jersey put in a shift that Mike Rayer will no doubt by delighted with. 

The clash was initially a cagey affair before the Blues took the game by the scruff of the neck. Rob Cook kicked an early penalty for the home side, with Lennard equalising minutes later, but for the most part of the first half Bedford were in control. 

Lennard ran the game from no. 10, and Liebenberg‘s intelligent half back play tormented the Pirates all afternoon. And it was the South African who got across the whitewash for the first score, finding the gap under the posts after a taking quick tap penalty. 

That penalty had been won after the Blues outmuscled the home side in the scrum, and more often than not the pack was dominant, especially at set pieces. Liebenberg was again involved in Mike Rayer’s side’s second try of the day, but the architect of the score was Tom Bedford who kicked a superb chip to the corner for Bassett. The former colt demonstrated a real turn of pace to finish. 

Lennard added the extras to both scores, before adding a late penalty in between a Cook kick of his own, and the Blues went in  20-6 ahead. 

The Cornish side came out after the break with more intent, and immediately got back into the game with another two penalties from the ever reliable Cook. 

Blues fans at the Mennaye may have been concerned that they were perhaps about to witness the third game in a row in which their side controlled the first period only to lose it in the second, but they had their fears allayed through Barrell’s converted score. 

Having just come onto the field the no.8 pick up the ball from the back on the scrum to dot down at a key moment when the Pirates had been looking to get back into the match. 

However the home side did manage to get onto the score sheet through Blair Cowen, who scored in almost identical fashion, coming from the back of the maul to score. Cook converted the extras and Pirates looked to build through their danger men, Grant Pointer and Wes Davies, but it was Bedford who would get the next score, and secure their bonus point. 

Taylor was the man whose name ended up on the score sheet but it was a try that moved from Dan Seal at the breakdown, through Handre Schmidt, Brendan Burke, and Mike Howard before the dual registered centre crossed the white line. 

Lennard put the extras away before missing the drop goal, and despite Davies crossing the whitewash in the final move of the game, the Blues secured the win. 

Bedford Blues: Burke, Schmidt, Taylor, Bedford, Bassett (Kohler), Lennard (Sharp), Liebenberg (Baldwin), Steenkamp (Walsh), Locke (Cochrane), Seal, Pailor (Howard), Tomes, Rae, Harding, Tupai (Barrell)

 

Referee: Terry Hall (RFU)

MATCH REPORT V BRISTOL

 

The Bedford Blues snatched a defeat from the jaws of victory in a tense clash against Bristol.

For the second week in a row they were defeated after leading at the break, this time by 9-0, but lost 17-15 after a poor second half performance. 

A brace from Bristol centre Jack Tovey was enough to see the south west side beat Mike Rayer’s team in the closely fought game, in which they failed to cross the whitewash. 

One positive was Jake Sharp’s kicking performance as all the Blues’ points coming from his boot with a 100 per cent success rate. 

Despite coming out of the blocks quickly, the Blues were unable to capitalise on their first half performance, which ultimately was their undoing. 

Bedford dominated in the pack in the opening half, and often forced Bristol into mistakes at the breakdown, deep into their territory. 

Yet it took the home side 16 minutes to convert the pressure into points on the board with Sharp putting his first kick of the day away.

Brenden Burke, playing on his 30th birthday, offloaded a ball behind Handre Schmidt, when the wing would have been certain to score, and later a Darryl Veenendaal pass was intercepted, offering Bristol a rare attacking chance. 

In truth, Bris offered very little in the first period and Bedford were consistent with their scoreboard management as Sharp added his second kick 25 minutes in. 

The Memorial Ground side became frustrated at the breakdown and this eventually boiled over. Nico Steenkamp and Mariano Sambucetti tussled and as they were walking back to play, the Bristol No.4 struck out at the South African prop and the Bristol man was lucky only to be shown yellow. 

Sharp added his third ten minutes from the break, before the visitors heaped on some late pressure towards the end of the half. The away side came out from the break and converted some of their pressure into points. 

The former Doncaster fly half Tristan Roberts put on Bristol’s first points with a penalty kick before his side took the lead through an opportunistic score, as Joshua Ovens broke and offloaded to Tovey who dotted down his first under the posts, with Roberts getting the extras. 

The momentum was with Bristol after the try, and they camped out on the Blues’ line, but for most of the half their defence held out. While the Blues looked lacklustre and tired as the half continued, the supreme Burke provided Bedford with the only real attacking options. However, with little or no support from his team-mates, Bedford had to be pleased when they twice came back with points from the boot of Sharp. 

The Irishman showed his great vision in a jinking run, by kicking a cross field ball which eluded Schmidt by centimetres. 

The warning signs were there though that the Blues had to up their game. They had Burke to thank late on for a fantastic last-ditch tackle into touch on winger Matt Williams when he was almost certain to score, before Bristol sieged the Bedford line once more. 

The Blues could not hold forever, and Bristol eventually scored the try that won them the game – and it had been coming. Tovey got his second after a breakaway down the right from Williams, who offloaded to the centre to crash over the line. Roberts added the extras, and despite a rousing four final minutes of attacking intent by the Blues, it proved to be too little, too late. 

Bedford Blues Starting XV: Burke, Schmidt, Dodge, Bedford, Kohler (Bassett), Sharp (Lennard), Veenendaal (Liebenberg), Steenkamp (Walsh), Cochrane, Seal (Steenkamp), Tomes, Tupai (Locke), Rae (C), Harding, Fisher (Pailor)  

Replacements not used: Johnson  

Bristol Rugby Starting XV: Marsden, Watkins, Tovey, Mosses, Williams, Robetrs, Slater (Silver), Iris (Channon), Lawrence, Hobson (Thompson), Sambucetti (Montagu), Winters, Ovens (Mama), Merriman, Grieve (C) (Barry)

Replacements not used: Goodridge  

Referee: Michael Tutty

 

Attendance: 2821

MATCH REPORT V ROTHERHAM

Bedford lost their 100 per cent start to the season in a game at Rotherham that for long periods could have gone either way.

Having led 22-9 at the break, Rotherham regrouped and came away winners in a thrilling 40-32 encounter.

The Blues had to make do with the bonus point after Dave Vincent scored a brace, while Neil Cochrane and Handre Schmidt also crossed the whitewash.

But it was the strong second half performance from the Titans, in which they scored 31 points, that was enough to down the away side.

The reliable boot of Garry Law gave the Titans 18 points to complement tries from Palepoi Nonu, Shane Manahon and a brace from Samoan Semisi Taulava.

However, in the first half Bedford were on top, and indeed led for much of the match. The fact that they could not hold out for the win will disappoint Mike Rayer and his coaching staff.

Law put the first points on the board after six minutes, and moments later Jamie Lennard missed a kick of his own.

Rotherham, powered by their strong front row, were trying to force their way to Bedford’s try line, but had little flair and their attacks were easily disposed of.

Blues, however, were aided by guile and cunning in attack. This was demonstrated in their first score, when Cochrane dotted down from the blindside of a line-out after Sean Tomes had taken the ball well and offloaded to the former Rotherham player. Lennard missed the extras.

Law then kicked two further penalties on 12 and 20 minutes, either side of a Lennard penalty.

In truth though, the first 25 minutes were very tight and despite the contrasting styles of play, the scores remained within a point of each other until Titans’ Palepoi Nonu was sent to the bin.

His younger brother Ma’a, played earlier in the day representing the All Blacks in their 37-17 World Cup win over France, but the Titans’ centre was to blame for his side’s capitulation in the final moments of the half.

Down to 14 men, Rotherham failed to deal with the pace and strength of winger Vincent (pictured above) who scored twice in four minutes.

His first came at the end of a flowing move after multiple phases of Bedford pressure and the second was made entirely by the cunning of Daryl Veenendaal.

The scrum half dummied his way through the Rotherham line before offloading to Vincent, who touched down in almost the same spot as moments before.

Within the ten minute period, and with the man advantage Bedford went from being a point behind to 13 ahead.

An injury to the try scoring Vincent was the only negative on a strong end to the half.

Within minutes of the restart, Nonu redeemed himself after his stint in the bin, crashing through the Bedford defence to score his first for the Titans. Law added the extras which brought the home side back into the game.

The score lifted the home crowd, and Rotherham edged towards a second score, before Barney Maddison knocked on following a challenge from Mark Kohler.

However the pressure paid off and they took the lead only moments later through no. 8 Semisi Taulava, who crashed over from the back of a Rotherham scrum. Law put away the extras, but Bedford showed the strength of character to come back into the game through the ever reliable Schmidt, to secure the forth try and the bonus point.

The try came from Cochrane who won the ball from a long Rotherham line-out and the ball was moved wide to Brendan Burke, the Irishman offloaded to the winger who finished from five metres out.

Lennard kicked the extras before the Bedford backline was given a scare by Peter Homan who charged 40 metres before being brought down by the rushing away side’s defensive line.

As Rotherham pressured, Lennard made an excellent drop goal to increase the Blues’ lead and manage the scoreboard with less than ten minutes to go.

However when Law added a penalty the home side could smell victory.

When Lennard knocked on ten metres from his own line the pressure mounted and from the Rotherham scrum Taulava scored his second of the day with only four minutes left on the clock. Law converted which gave the home side the one point lead for the win, but Rotherham were not yet done.

Taking advantage of slack defending when Bedford were looking to respond, Rotherham wing Shane Monahan beat the defence to dot down and Law converted to deny Bedford a losing bonus point and rub salt into their wounds.

Rotherham Titans XV: Hamilton, Monahan, Godfrey, Nonu, Homan, Law, Rhodes (Williams), Kilbane, Stagg (Baines), O’Donnell (Hooper), Patrick (Dickinson), Maddison (Griffiths), Copeland, Dougall, Taulava

Replacements not used: Harris, Hodgson

Bedford Blues XV: Burke, Vincent (Kohler), Taylor, Dodge, Schmidt, Lennard, Veenendaal (Price), Steenkamp (Seal), Cochrane (Locke), Boulton, Tomes, Tupai, Rae, Harding, Fisher

Replacements not used: Johnson, Pailor, Sharp

Referee: Andrew Taylorson

Attendance: 1,487

MATCH REPORT V ESHER

The Bedford Blues maintained their 100 per cent start to the season with another emphatic win over Esher in the British and Irish Cup.

The Blues ran out 62-30 winners in a ten try rout which saw Duncan Taylor scored a brace on his return to his former stomping ground, with Mark Kohler also getting a rout, along with scores from Chris Locke, Jake Sharp, Dave Vincent, Lawrence Rayner and a penalty try completing the scores.

Only Tom Bedford and Stefan Leibenberg started the clash at Goldington Road having played two weeks ago in the game at Moseley Road.

However although the Blues were scintillating in attack, they were sloppy and naïve in defence.

They showed their naivety in the opening exchanges meant that with ten minutes the home side found themselves 17-0 down, having conceded two early tries and penalty.

When the sides met in the league less than two weeks ago, Esher had only managed six points over 80 minutes, but with two they had beaten that score.

Peter Synott was the thorn in the Blues side with the two early tries, the first after he pounced on a mistake from a Stefan Leibenberg box kick, and went over the whitewash unchallenged.

Bry White was sent to the bin seven minutes in for taking out a man in the air from the restart, and this continued the pressure on the Blues defence.

Within six minutes he had a second, dotting down under the post, having collected the ball from a ruck one metre out.

Guy Swadling converted both before adding a penalty of his own gave the Surrey side a 17-0 point lead.

Bedford seemed to realised that if they wanted to spare their blushes they were going to have to up their game, which fortunately for the 1500 or so spectators they did through a crowd favourite Taylor.

Taylor finished his first of the evening after collecting a kick through from his Saracen team mate Ben Ransom.

Sharp converted before Swadling converted his second penalty – his last points of the half.

Bedford’s score gave them the confidence they required to drag themselves back into the contest.

Locke added Bedford’s second, and his third against Esher this season crossing the whitewash after the ball was recycled after excellent attacking play from Taylor and Josh Bassett.

With the play not as fluid in the blues back line, the hot side found that they were sometimes playing hot potato with the ball, until Jake Sharp decided to take things into his own hands, by scoring a superb individual effort, dummying his way through the Esher line.

Alex Rae replaced debutant White and some after Bedford took the lead for the first time 37 minutes in when they over powered the Esher scrum and the officials awarded a penalty try.

Sharp converted before Taylor received his second adulation from the Goldington Road crowd when he scored his second, as he sliced through the Esher backs, after the ball was offloaded to him by Tom Bedford.

The second half started just as emphatically with Bassett getting under the posts after being played in by Taylor, before two minutes later Kohler scored his first of the afternoon, finishing off a move after Bedford overturned n Esher scrum.

Sharp missed the conversion before centre Bedford missed the chance of the evening when he offloaded into thin air, before Vincent tried to play in the second glorious chance last man but his pass was deemed forward.

Esher responded with two scores of their own through Andy Wright and Nic Losardo, but it was not enough to stop a rampant Bedford who went on to score between the Esher tries through Vincent, atoning for his earlier mistake.

Kohler scored his second after a superb surge by Don Barrell, before debutand fly-half Lawrence Rayner finished off the rout, dotting down after a jinking run down the left wing.

Bedford Blues XV: Ransom, Bassett, Taylor, Bedford (Vincnet), Kohler, Sharp (Rayner), Liebenberg (Price), Steenkamp (Reeves), Locke, Seal, Pailor, Johnson, White (Rea (Tomes)), Messum, Barrell (c)

Replacements: Cochrane

Esher XV: Hylton, See, Brown, Wright, Fowles (Gossington), Swadling, Edgerley (Kirby), Mines (Macconville), Corrigan (Sweeney), Gethings (Edwards), Doherty, Blakeburn (Ives), Sylvester, Synott (Losardo), Renwick (c)

Referee: Greg Macdonald

Attendance: 1544

 

MATCH REPORT V LONDON WELSH

It certainly wasn’t pretty but the Bedford Blues maintained their 100 per cent start to the season by grinding out a win against London Welsh.

A single try from Sacha Harding, and an accomplished kicking performance from Jamie Lennard as well as a penalty from Jake Sharp gave the Goldington Road outfit a 22-18 win.

The final moments of the game were placed on a knife edge after former Blue, Edd Thrower, crossed the whitewash late on to reduce the deficit. But the win was all the more impressive given that without try saving tackles from Brendan Burke, Handre Schmidt, and Jon Fisher, the away side could have not so much snatched a win, as strolled it.

Try scorer Harding said after the performance that Blues were upset at the way they had played overall.

He said: “A win is a win, but we are quite disappointed with our performance. No disrespect to London Welsh, but we didn’t play well. We’ve come away with the victory, but we know we have a lot to work on.

"We didn’t control the game like we wanted to, we didn’t get into our rhythm at any time and we didn’t play the rugby that we enjoy playing. So, we have plenty to work on because we set high standards.

“We definitely know that we are not the finished article, that’s for sure.”

In a scrappy game, London Welsh had far more of the possession and territory but they were unable to turn their dominance into points.

Bedford, on the other hand, remained resolute in defence and were clinical when venturing into the Exiles’ half, often coming away with points on the board.

Burke and Schmidt made two of the try saving tackles on William Moss and Liam Gibson respectively when they looked certain to dot down, before Bedford even had a point on the board.

However, when Mike Rayer’s outfit did get over the whitewash it came in a moment of sheer class.

Fisher breezed through two London Welsh defenders as if they weren’t there before a quick pass played in Burke. The fullback had the presence of mind to offload into the centre where Harding was able to cut his way through the Exiles’ defence to touch down between the posts.

Lennard put the extras on the board but the momentum did not shift to the home side despite the obvious potential for quality in the ranks.

Welsh showed why they had been unbeaten in the league through an impressive pack that dominated and turned over Bedford ball on far too many occasions.

The Welsh try of the first period came from the pressure exerted from the Exiles’ pack, with Ed Jackson scoring from the back of the scrum. While both sides battled for the control of the game, Lennard stepped forward to keep the scoreboard ticking over with two penalties and a successful drop goal.

Ross scored his own penalty, but despite a shaky performance Bedford went in at the break with a slender lead.

The heavens opened after the interval with a display that would have got Benjamin Franklin out chasing lightning bolts and the slippery conditions did little to add to the quality of either side’s game.

Lennard added an early penalty, before Sean Tomes was shown a yellow card for infringing in the ruck. The decision was harsh given the amount of penalties both sides had conceded.

With a man down, Welsh struck almost immediately when Liam Gibson raced through the Bedford defence, only to be brought down by Fisher one metre from the line.

A penalty from replacement Jake Sharp added to Blues’ tally, before London Welsh scored their second try of the afternoon. Fullback Thrower found time and space to dance through the Blues’ defence and dot down. However, unlike the cheers he was greeted with last year by the crowd at Goldington Road, he was met with boos for an altercation with fan favourite Schmidt.

That set up a tense final ten minutes, but the Blues held on to show that they can grind out a win in less than easy conditions.

MATCH REPORT V ESHER

Bedford Blues made it two wins out of two in the Championship with a resounding win over Esher.

A brace from the ever reliable Handre ‘Score’ Schmidt, as well as tries from debutants Stefan Liebenberg and Mark Kohler, plus Ollie Dodge, Brendan Burke, and an unlikely double from Chris Locke sealed a professional 55-6 win.

Director of rugby Mike Rayer will be delighted in the manner that his players came out and truly outclassed their opposition in every area.

And, in truth, Bedford were never really troubled by an Esher side that, although spirited, lacked the quality to penetrate a stubborn Blues defence.

Yet Bedford won after coming from 6-0 behind following two quick penalties from the dangerous Esher No.10 Mark Atkinson.

Although the Goldington Road outfit bossed possession during the first half, they were left frustrated through the opening phases of the clash.

However, once they did get on the scoreboard they never looked back, putting on 55 unanswered points.

Jamie Lennard converted a penalty 15 minutes in, before a quick-fire double from South African Schmidt added to it.

His first completed a neat spell of possession in the corner after excellent work from Burke and Liebenberg.

He then followed it up with a second minutes later after Kohler made up the metres with a darting run, and the ball was recycled out to the other wing, where Schmidt used his strength to cross the whitewash. Lennard put away one of the conversions.

The two tries clearly settled any nerves, and the Bedford forwards were enjoying ball in hand for long periods of play.

Indeed locks, Sean Tomes and Mike Howard had a big part to play in the Blues’ third of the afternoon. The unlikely pair broke ranks through the Esher defence, and although the latter knocked on, Bedford won the resulting scrum, and were then awarded two penalties, the second of which was taken quickly by Liebenberg who squeezed his way over the line.

Kohler then superbly rounded off the half, marking his full debut by running from the halfway line to dot down after being played in by Schmidt. Lennard converted both attempts.

In truth, the only danger from Esher, came from Wasps dual registered Atkinson, who should have scored but for a fantastic last ditch tackle from Burke.

However, it went from bad to worse for the Surrey club after their fly half was forced off at the break, limping out of the clash on crutches.

The second period started in the same way with another two quick scores from the off. Dodge got his within a minute of the restart after great running rugby, in which the ball seemed to pass through the entire side before the centre crossed the whitewash.

Burke then scored his own under the posts, a score which his performance merited, after having the ball offloaded to him from a Liebenberg tap penalty.

Esher’s John Downey was sent to the bin after he picked up replacement Ricky Reeves and forced him down with a dump tackle.

Chris Locke then scored two almost identical tries to bring the score over the half century mark while the black and yellows were down to 14 men. First the Blues forced a rolling maul to the line before the ball was recycled out for the replacement to get over, then the front row dotted down from the back of the maul for his second and Bedford’s eighth of the afternoon.

Lennard, whose kicking was somewhat inconsistent last week in the 28-26 win at Nottingham, put away all the extras for the second half scores, however, the less said about Burke’s attempt for Locke’s second the better.

Having such an unanswerable lead, Bedford could be forgiven for taking their foot off the gas. They afforded Esher more possession in the final ten minutes of the clash but they could not add to their measly six points and their afternoon was summed up when centre Geoff Griffiths knocked on while being held up over the Bedford try line.

Bedford Blues Starting XV: Burke, Schmidt (Bassett), Dodge (Vincent), Bedford, Kohler, Lennard (Veenendaal), Liebenberg, Walsh (Reeves), Cochrane, Seal (Boulton), Howard (Johnson), Tomes, Fisher, Rae (c), Tupai (Locke)

Referee: Paul Knowles

MATCH REPORT V NOTTINGHAM

Bedford Blues survived a second half comeback and a last gasp, long distance penalty miss from former player Kieran Hallet to win a hard fought encounter in Nottingham by two points.

In the end, a Sean Tomes try proved the difference after the Green and Whites had ran in three tries in ten second half minutes to wrestle the lead back from 13 points at one stage.

A first half score for Dave Vincent on his competitive debut and another for last season’s top try scorer, Handre Schmidt, 15 minutes into the second half, had put Blues into a commanding position, though an indifferent 52 minutes for Jamie Lennard with the boot could have made Nottingham’s fightback a little less nail biting.

With proven quality, the former London Irish fly half will have better days, not least because of necessity, with Jake Sharp breathing down his neck for a starting berth.

However, there were promising performances from two of the other new boys with Jon Fisher putting in big carries and even bigger hits at No.8, while hooker Neil Cochrane impressed with a ubiquitous display, particularly in the first half, where he brought his skills as a top class Championship flanker into play.

But there was an understandably rusty start as the former Doncaster forward’s first line-out throw was too long, sparking an frequent exchange of errors from both sides as the game became entrenched in the midfield.

It took until the second part of the opening 40 minutes for his team to grow into the game as an early sin-binning for Paul Tupai immediately put them at a disadvantage after the second row took out Nicholas Rouse at a line-out.

Before that discrepancy, former Blue Hallet had kicked the Green and Whites into a 3-0 lead, which he doubled as Blues’ former Samoan international took his temporary seat on the bench.

Lennard had a quick chance to half the deficit but he pulled wide from a difficult angle on the touchline. It would prove to be the first of three penalties for the half back that missed their mark.

Still, it was from his boot that Bedford’s first points of the campaign came after 20 minutes and Nottingham continually infringed at rucks to offer him chances to add to his tally thereafter.

As the half hour approached, Christopher Eggleshaw finally found the end of referee Sean Davey’s patience and the visitors found themselves with a man advantage. Lennard put the pressure on with an equalising penalty but missed soon after with an effort to edge them in front for the first time in the match.

All too often, unforced errors prevented Bedford from building on attacks, though their defence had forced the same outcome when the hosts had ball in hand.

But for a wild pass from Alexander Shaw to a less than pleased Nathan Jones, Blues could’ve been behind, following a promising break from the Green and Whites.

Bedford lived to fight another day and three minutes later Vincent chased down a box kick by Darryl Veenendaal to score in the corner. Lennard converted with his most difficult kick of the afternoon to make it 13-6 to Blues.

It should have stayed that way into the break but Hallet reduced the arrears to four points with a debatable penalty, awarded for an infringement in a ruck despite the ball squirming free.

Lennard increased Bedford’s advantage 11 minutes into the second period and it was his last action before he was replaced by Sharp.

The young half back only had to wait two minutes for his first shot at the posts after Schmidt managed to cross for his first of this campaign from an improbable position. The South African had three defenders to go through out wide and he bounced and buffeted his through them before Sharp made it 22-9.

The next score was crucial and when it went Nottingham’s way it sparked a purple patch that threatened to take the game away from Bedford.

The Blues tried to doggedly to keep the hosts out but, camped on their line on the hour mark, Holford pushed over. Hallet missed his kick but the hosts came straight back from the restart and crossed the whitewash again four minutes later.

This time Jackson supplied the finish and Hallet again wasted the conversion which would have brought his side within two points.

He soon had chance to convert at the third time of asking. Bedford were again pushed back onto their line where Holford was adjudged to have touched down by referee Davey to hand a three-point lead back to Nottingham with eight minutes remaining.

This time Blues responded well and went searching for the score that would restore the balance in their favour. Tomes – who had come on as a replacement for Tupai six minutes earlier – bullied his way over the.

Sharp couldn’t stretch the advantage and that left Nottingham within a penalty goal of victory, but when Hallet miscued deep into added time, from two yards inside the half, it confirmed a winning start for the Blues.

BLUES: Burke, Vincent, Dodge, Bedford, Schmidt, Lennard (Sharp, 52), Veenendaal (Liebenberg, 73), Walsh (Reeves, 63), Cochrane (Locke 73), Boulton (Seal, 52), Howard, Tupai (Tomes, 72), Rae, Harding, Fisher

Unused replacements: Kohler

REFEREE: Sean Davy

MATCH REPORT V SARACENS

Bedford Blues put in a performance many would be proud of but they ultimately fell short against Premiership champions Saracens.

Over 3,000 fans saw the Blues put in a workmanlike performance, with sparks of brilliance as they lost 45-20 to England's top side.

Although the score suggests a suspect defence, it couldn’t have been further from the truth in a performance that only became disjointed through rafts of expected pre-season substitutions.

Indeed the scoreline showed a slight improvement from the 44-10 result in the same friendly fixture last year.

Saracens had brought a very strong side to the clash, while Blues, as well as showcasing their nine new signings, also invited ten members of the 1975 English Cup winning side to switch on the new ground's floodlights at half time.

Before that Bedford started brightly against the newly crowned Aviva Premiership champions, forcing an early penalty and, despite being over powered in the scrum, they kept hold of possession.

They were rewarded with an early try. In four swift phases the ball moved closer to the Saracen's line. Henry Staff tried to make a break through before Jamie Lennard put a smart offload into the hands of Neil Cochrane to dot down on his debut. Lennard, the Blues' new No.10, did not miss the extras.

Sarries looked to have hit back immediately through David Strettle, but the ball to him was adjudged to have been passed forward.

However, the strength in their pack was obvious, with Bedford immediately conceding a penalty from the resulting scrum. England international and Saracens debutant Charlie Hodson put three points on the board for the Premiership side. But Lennard kicked his own penalty a minute later to restore the seven point lead.

The Saracens scrum, to put it midly were much better than Bedford’s in the opening exchanges and the home side were lucky not to concede a penalty try after they were penalised three times near their line in quick succession.

The scores were soon level when Strettle broke through the Bedford backline to dot down, and Alex Goode added the extras to level the scores.

Hodgson, who was quiet during the first quarter, showed his class with a superb up and under, which Adam Powell really should have done better with when faced with one man to beat.

The champions took the lead though 15 minutes in when a Lennard kick was charged down in his own 22. Schalk Brits picked up the loose ball and was brought down metres from the try line, but scrum half Ben Spencer nipped over the line from the ruck. The Goldington Road crowd roared though when Hodgson’s conversion hit the post.

Ten minutes before the break Bedford showed some really nice plays in the midfield, and were boosted when Strettle was sent to the bin, while Lennard atoned for his earlier miss by kicking three penalty points.

The Blues couldn’t make the extra man count and soon the sides were down to 14 apiece when Dan Seal was given a yellow card for handling in the ruck five minutes before the break. Hodgson put away the points from the penalty in what was be the last points of the half.

After the break, with changes made by both sides it was not surprising that the second period took a little time to get into the swing of things. Hodgson though extended the Men in Black’s lead with a penalty early on from 30 metres out.

Handre Schmidt got the home crowd going after starting one of his trademark 70 metres runs, only to be stopped after he knocked on his interception, before Hodgson increased the lead to 11 with another penalty from the 22 in front of the points.

After rafts of changes for both sides, the game lost much of its momentum. That was until Strettle broke down the wing and offloaded to Brits, who dotted down despite a late challenge. Goode put the ball between the posts for the extras.

The Blues finally came to life with a brilliant move which saw former Saracens man Staff cross over for his debut try. He ended a five phase move from the Bedford scrum, with another former Sarries player Jake Sharp, stepping through the last man before the centre got over the line. Sharp then got the extras to make the scores 31-20.

It proved to be the smallest of comebacks as Saracens merely stepped up a gear and scored down the Goldington Road slope through Justin Melck, with Goode getting the extras to edge the Watford-based side towards the 40 point mark.

Ultimately the champions crossed that mark as Adam Powell powered over the line in the final moments past a tired Bedford defence with Jean-Baptiste Bruzulier adding the final points to end it 45-20. The score may have not looked pretty under the new lights, but Mike Rayer will have been pleased with the workout his side were given and some of the rugby on show.

Bedford Blues starting XV:

Burke (Kohler), Schmidt, Staff, Bedford, Vincent (Bassett), Lennard (Sharp), Veenendaal (Leibenburg), Steenkamp (Walsh), Cochrane (Locke), Seal, Tomes (Howard), Rae (c) (Johnson), Barrell (Messum), Harding (Tupai) , Fisher.

MATCH REPORT V BRISTOL

The Bedford Blues were left heartbroken as they lost out to Bristol in the British and Irish Cup final.

The Blues were washed away 17-14 by a Bristol side who were able to cope with the horrendous conditions in the Severn estuary.

It hampered any hope of a first trophy since the Powergen Shield in 2005, as Bedford stumbled in their last game of the season.

Having knocked on over three times when in try scoring positions, the spirited effort by the side was not enough to take down a side on their own ground.

Nine points from captain James Pritchard and a late score from Handre Schmidt was all the side had against an accomplished kicking performance by Bristol’s Ed Barnes.

It took Blues four minutes to get into the game when they made their first foray into the Bristol half through Ollie Dodge, Paul Tupai, and a breakaway run from Schmidt. They came away with three points when Pritchard put a penalty through the posts after the home side were penalised for being offside.

Bedford then committed the same offence, but Barnes missed the chance to level the scores early on. Mike Rayer’s side looked to get across the whitewash soon after, trying to capitalise on an error by full back George Watkins, but the Bristol defence held out.

If only the same could have been said about the weather, as the heavens opened to dampen any chances of flowing rugby.

With the conditions worsening, both teams made handling errors which broke up a number of phases, and prevented the sort of spectacle fans and viewers on Sky have come to expect when watching the Blues.

The difficulty of the conditions came to light when Pritchard, taking an up-and-under cleanly, felt the ball slide out of his hands after being tackled.

In last week’s Championship play-off performance at Worcester, one area that the Blues were weakest was their scrum and the Bristol pack were exploiting it, dominated the scrummaging in the first half.

Their forwards had a part to play in Bristol taking the lead through a hat-trick of penalties before the half was out. Barnes kicked the first from 40 metres following a knockon and then followed it up with another effort after an infringement in the ruck.

Bristol then increased their lead, when he kicked over his third penalty, after the Blues were penalised in the maul. Alex Rae was sent to the bin for his part, as the home side went in with a six point lead at the break.

Despite being a man down the Blues pushed to get the first score of the day in the opening moments of the second half, but were hampered by the downpour and the conditions saw George Kruis knock-on when was inches from the line.

Jake Sharp then chipped through to Schmidt, but the prolific winger slipped as he caught the ball to fall into touch, as another chance went begging.

It went from bad to worse for the Blues who, having got away with having an intercepted pass by Anthony Elliot, allowed the Bristol winger to score.

After losing the ball in midfield, Pritchard couldn’t deal with the ball on the ground, and the wide man pounced to score.

Bedford probed Bristol to try and get a score of their own, but for all their phase play they came up short, settling for three points from Pritchard’s boot instead. The Canadian international then put an effort wide from just short of the half way line.

It clearly wasn’t to be Bedford’s day when once again, when threatening on the Bristol try line, they knocked on, this time through Mike Howard and Sam Walsh.

Pritchard kicked another penalty from in front of the posts, although the valuable points were overshadowed by an injury to Gregor Gillanders. The difference in luck between the two sides was clear when Dan Norton’s miss kick cannoned back into his hands off a Blues player, who were then penalised in the ruck, with Barnes taking the points.

Bedford though showed their spirit and determination that has epitomised them this season.

Schmidt scored a late try following a Bedford scrum, to bring the scores within three points but Pritchard missed the conversion.

It proved to be too little too late though, as Bristol were content to keep the ball and as time ticked on it proved to a game too far for the Blues.

Bedford Blues starting XV: Thrower (Taylor 52), Schmidt, Dorrian, Dodge, Pritchard (c), Sharp, Chudley (Veenendaal, 52) Seal, Richmond, Boulton (Walsh 61), Howard, Kruis, Gillanders (Tomes 71), Rae, Tupai Replacements: Locke, Goodman, Bedford,

Referee: Andrew McMenemy

MATCH REPORT V WORCESTER

Bedford Blues showed passion, bravery and courage but ultimately felt heartbreak in their Championship semi-final at Worcester.

The Warrior’s sneaked a 23-22 victory in controversial circumstances after a last minute converted effort by the home side gave them the win.

Kai Horstmann scored in the final moments of the match, and Joe Carlisle converted to give the home the single point win but television replays appeared to show Gregor Gillanders, was pulled back preventing him from getting to the Warriors' number 8.

Bedford had a last gasp chance to snatch the game back but Myles Dorrian missed a his drop goal attempt. There was still a sliver of hope that Blues had pulled off the biggest shock in Championship history when Duncan Taylor chased the fly half's goal attemp and touched down when the ball bounced back to him. The decision went to the Television Match Official and the score was ruled out as the ball dropped beyong the dead ball line.

Edd Thrower had scored the only try for the Blues in the first half, and James Pritchard kicked 17 points.

Bedford could not have dreamed of a better start, scoring 19 unanswered points in a period where Worcester looked understandably nervous.

Three quick penalties got the Blues off the mark. The first came after Jake Sharp had an early drop goal attempt with a penalty advantage which drifted wide. Instead, Pritchard kicked the penalty between the posts to give the away side an early lead.

He then kicked the second from 40 metres, and the third from in front of the posts.

Bedford got across the whitewash for the first time through Thrower. Worcester's Tom Arscott and Jonny Arr made a mess of an up-and-under to knock-on and give Bedford the advantage before Will Chudley and Pritchard made a quick break. The ball was then moved across the field with some fortunate offloading, before it landed in the hands of Thrower who finished in the corner. Pritchard took the extras before Andy Goode gave Worcester their first score of the day with a penalty.

Warriors were sloppy throughout the first half, often making errors and after another infringement in the ruck Pritchard kicked a penalty from 40 metres..

Worcester then got themselves back into the game with a score of their own. Arscott picked up a high ball and then broke past three Bedford players before offloading to Goode who cleared the Bedford defence to finish.

There was controversy with his conversion. Goode missed his first kick but was told to take it again after Handre Schmidt was said to have charged to early, putting him off. Goode didn’t miss with his second and added another penalty but Bedford led 19-13 at the break.

Craig Gillies was sent to the bin for not releasing early in the second half and Pritchard converted the penalty in what were to be the Blues last points of the afternoon.

Goode added another penalty before missing a mammoth effort from the halfway line moments later.

Sam Walsh was sent to the bin after being penalised in defending a massive overlap for Worcester, where Thrower made a last ditch tackle to save the Blues' skin before Walsh was penalised.

Worcester looked to have won it when Graham Kitchener got over the line, but dropped the ball under pressure from Thrower.

But they did get over the line in controversial fashion when Horstmann dotted down. TV replays afterwards showed the infringement on Gillanders,.which was not spotted by referee Andrew Small. Joe Carlisle kicked the conversion give Worcester the lead for the first time in the match.

There was still time for Dorrian to send hearts into mouths but his last ditch drop goal sailed wide confirming defeat for a Blues side that deserved to have booked their place in the final.

Blues starting XV: Thrower, Schmidt, Dorrian, Bedford, Pritchard (c), Sharp, Chudley, Seal, Richmond, Boulton, Howard, Kruis, Gillanders, Rae, Tupai

Replacements: Locke, Walshe, Tomes, Fraser, Goodman, Veenendaal, Taylor.

Referee: Andrew Small

Attendance: 6,539

MATCH REPORT V WORCESTER

A team that scores six tries against an opposition deserves to reach the final of any competition.

The Bedford Blues outplayed and at times outclassed the Worcester Warriors to reach the final of the British and Irish Cup.

A brace from veteran Samoan Paul Tupai, as well as tries from Dan Seal, Alex Rae, Edd Thrower, and James Pritchard ensured the Blues will face Bristol at the Memorial Ground for the chance to lift their first piece of silverware since the Powergen Cup final triumph in 2005.

Worcester’s director of rugby Richard Hill had spoken before the match about his intention to ‘batter’ Bedford while opposite number Mike Rayer must have been rubbing his hands together in glee and must merely have pinned his comments to the dressing room wall instead of delivering a pre-match motivational speech.

Although arguably Worcester were not at full strength, there were still many faces in their side who had featured in the 28-18 and 32-0 defeats of the Blues in the regular season.

And after seven minutes it looked like the outcome of those game would be repeated after the Warriors gave themselves the best possible start with two tries.

Joe Carlisle converted his own score before Alex Grove burst through a shellshocked Bedford defence.

The Goldington Road outfit, showed plenty of character to hit back immediately when Seal emerged from the bottom of a rolling maul. Pritchard put the ball between the posts and that score seemed to breeze some life into the home side, who looked more determined to get back into the game. Within 17 minutes they had levelled the tie with another converted effort.

Tupai put the ball over the line, following drives by Ollie Dodge and Thrower. As Blues looked to take the lead the away side went a man down when Oliver Tomaszczyk was sent to the bin.

From the resulting penalty the Blues got over the whitewash for their third with Rae – who this week signed a one-year contract extension – dotting down from the maul. The lead was only five points though when Pritchard missed the conversion.

Bedford were then penalised for a high tackle and Willie Walker bisected the posts.

But it was the home side though who were enjoying all the possession, and deserved to get their fourth of the afternoon, through the instrumental Tupai. The No.8 touched down his second after Bedford dominated a scrum.

Pritchard took the extras.

Will Bowley looked to have done enough to get a try back for the Warriors, but was pushed into touch by Chudley, in what was to be an important tackle before the break.

Walker then added three points to the Worcester score early in the second period, through a penalty which sneaked through the posts.

The home side extended their lead with their fifth score of the day through captain Pritchard after the Canadian international finished a move that swept through the entire team, starting from a Dodge break from the midfield. Pritchard kicked the extras and then further extended the lead through a penalty.

Bedford had the game in the bag when Thrower ran under the posts mid-way through the second half. Handre Schmidt burst down the wing and offloaded to the full back to score and put more than 20 points between the two sides, before Pritchard took the extras to make it 43-20.

The hosts then successfully held the ball in Worcester territory, reducing the away side to breakaway chances that came to little. They did cross over for their third of the afternoon, when Greg King finished a flowing counter-attacking move, but as Walker added the conversion, it was little more than a consolation.

With first blood drawn by Blues in this knockout rugby double-header against Worcester confidence will now be on a high that Bedford can next week reach the Championship play-off final as well.

MATCH REPORT V ROTHERHAM

A helping hand from Cornish Pirates at Doncaster Knights and a scintillating second half at Goldington Road, where Blues demolished Rotherham Titans, helped secure Bedford’s place in the Championship Play-off semi-finals for the second successive year.

Twelve tries, coming from players across the field gave the home side a convincing 80-19 win over the south Yorkshire side. Handre Schmidt scored a hattrick, James Pritchard and Will Chudley ran in a brace apiece while Paul Tupai, Jake Sharp, Gregor Gillanders, Alex Rae and Edd Thrower all crossed the whitewash in the huge win.

That still wouldn’t have been enough if things went against them in South Yorkshire, but they didn’t and it will be Blues who play Worcester in the next round thanks to a 27-24 Pirates win against Doncaster up at Castle Park.

Mike Rayer will just be pleased that his side are back to their attacking best, as they recorded 54 unanswered points in a magnificent second session.

Pritchard, making his return from injury, was the first to get on the scoreboard, converting his own effort after picking up the ball from a Myles Dorrian and Ollie Dodge move on the wing to outpace the Rotherham backline and dot down under the posts.

But the lead was to last only seven minutes when Rotherham hit back to level the scores with a converted effort of their own. Prop Mark George crossed the line after the Titans mauled from a lineout on the five metre line. Juan Pablo Socino took the extras.

Rotherham were doing their very best to spoil any semi-final hopes for the Blues when they scored their second of the afternoon. Scrum-half Matthew Rhodes, finished well in the corner after the Yorkshire outfit turned over a Bedford scrum.

But the Blues, to their credit, hit back immediately with two tries from the ever reliable finisher Schmidt, suitably nicknamed Score.

His first came when Dorrian intercepted a pass in the Titans’ 22, and the winger took the loose ball over the line. Pritchard gave the home side the lead with a well taken conversion. Schmidt’s second came five minutes later when Thrower danced through the Rotherham line, before offloading for the South African to pounce.

The wind was well and truly in the home side’s sails, as they secured a bonus point before the half time break with another converted try. Sharp, the creative orchestrator, made another dangerous run through the midfield after the Blues had turned over Rotherham ball.

The fly-half managed to play the ball on the ground to the rushing Tupai, who raced clear through to score under the posts.

Rotherham hit back, going down the Goldington Road slope for what would be the last time at the end of the half when Nottingham-bound Socino found a gap in the Bedford line to score and convert his own try.

It took Schmidt six minutes of the second period to get over the line for his hat-trick. After Dorrian and Dodge again interchanged on the wing, Schmidt picked up the loose ball to and powered his way over the line, with Pritchard converting.

Titans completely fell away in the second period as the floodgates opened. Sharp finished off a neat attacking move that his performance deserved, when he touched down in the corner.

Gillanders was the next player to cross the try line and Pritchard converted both efforts.

The punters at Goldington Road were certainly getting value for money as second half replacement Chudley crossed the whitewash twice within four minutes.

His first came after picking up the ball and darting over the line from the blindside of the scrum, and the second was after weaving through a Rotherham side who were clearly thinking about their summer holidays.

Rae and Thrower then added the next two scores as the Blues ran away with the tie against a non-existent opponent. Pritchard converted both efforts, before rounding off the performance with his second try of the day.

His final conversion broke the 80 barrier, with 30 of the points coming from the Canadian international.

Bedford starting XV: Thrower, Schmidt (Burke 55), Dorrian (Bedford 71), Dodge, Pritchard (c), Sharp, Veenendaal (Chudley 47), Seal (Boot 71), Richmond (Locke 65), Boulton (Walsh 58), Howard, Kruis, Gillanders, Rae, Tupai (Goodman 52)

MATCH REPORT V CORNISH PIRATES

Bedford Blues play-off hopes will rest in the hands of Cornish Pirates, after losing to them in the West Country.

With Doncaster beating Rotherham 42-20 on Saturday, the Blues knew that anything other than a win was needed to keep their play-off ambitions in their own hands.

However it wasn’t to be as they lost 33-17 to the Cornish side in the spring heat at the Mennaye Field. They will now have to beat Rotherham at home next week whilst hoping that the West Country side do them a favour and beat Doncaster to secure a semi-final place against Worcester.

Bedford suffered an early blow when captain James Pritchard pulled out through illness and was replaced at full-back by Edd Thrower.

Bedford started with more of the ball, but it was the Pirates who took the lead through an early Rob Cook penalty.

However, soon after the Blues took the lead with a fantastic display of attacking rugby. After several phases of quick offloading rugby, Jake Sharp broke through the pirates defence and offloaded to Boulton who dotted down under the posts.

Myles Dorrian kicked the easy extras as the Cornish side looked to hit back immediately.

Only minutes later Pirates regained the lead through a converted Grant Pointer try. After being played through by a smart offload from hooker Dave Ward, the winger dotted down and Cook converted.

With both sides eager to play expansive rugby, the teams saw a lot of the ball in the midfield, but after the initial scores neither team had a cutting edge.

Sharp, starting at number ten had been targeted by the Pirates earlier in the game but he got his own back when he danced through the Cornish defence to score and Dorrian converted to put the Blues 14-10 ahead.

As Bedford pressed to extend their score at half-time, the Mennaye outfit got over for their second and third of the afternoon. The first came when fly-half Jonny Bentley played in Harlequins bound Matt Hopper to dot down in the corner.

It was to get worse in the moments after when Bentley again threw a defence splitting pass through the Bedford defence and Tom Luke finished easily under the posts, with Cook taking the extras to give the Pirates a 22-14 lead at the break.

Bedford looked to hit back immediately in the second period and Will Chudley looked to be through after a quick tap penalty, but he was brought down metres from the line, before being turned over.

Dorrian managed to kick three points soon after with a comfortable penalty, but despite taking the early points the away side failed to grab the game by the scruff of the neck. Instead they had to be content with some hard defensive work, against the probing Cornish team sniffing for a bonus point.

They held out for over ten minutes without conceding until Cook converted a penalty after Bedford were penalised for being offside.

Dorrian then missed the chance to eke back the score moments later when he missed two crucial penalties of his own, which could have brought the Blues within a point of their pool B rivals.

Bedford were made to pay for those missed kicks as Pirates eventually got the bonus point with the forth try of the day, when Wed Davies crashed over the line after a long spell of Cornish possession. Cook missed the conversion but the damage had already been done to Bedford’s hopes of having their play-off future in their own hands.

Pointer then hit a massive penalty to give the Pirates a two score cushion which all but ended the game.

Bedford attacked looking to get a losing bonus point, and got closer through a late Alex Rae try after a sweeping attacking move. However it wasn’t to be and Bedford will now have to rely on results going in their favour to progress to the next stage of the season.

Blues starting XV: Thrower, Schmidt, Dorrian, Bedford (Dodge 48), Taylor, Sharp (Bassett 72), Chudley (Veenendaal 55), Seal (Walshe 55), Richmond (Locke 77), Boulton (Boot 69), Howard (Goodman 69), Kruis, Gillanders, Rae, Tupai (c)

MATCH REPORT V DONCASTER

Revenge is a dish best served cold, and yesterday Doncaster Knights fly half Tristan Roberts presented it on a silver platter to Bedford.

Having lost 17-16 last week against the Blues in the dying embers of the clash, the south Yorkshire side performed a smash ‘n grab job of their own at Goldington Road.

In truth, it was nothing more than they deserved, as the home side’s error-strewn second half performance was led to their second consecutive home defeat, despite tries from Edd Thrower, Tom Bedford, Chris Goodman, and Myles Dorrian.

The Blues played the better rugby in the first half and they scored first after a long spell of possession when Thrower finished neatly.

James Pritchard took the extras and in doing so became the first player to score 300 points for the Blues in three different seasons.

Despite several counter attacks from the Yorkshire side, Bedford scored their second converted effort of the day through centre Bedford.

The score, 22 in, came about after Pritchard out-competed Matt Williams for an up-andunder kick, and the ball was moved quickly out wide to the former Exeter man, who charged the final ten metres to score his third try this season.

Bedford couldn’t keep the resilient Doncaster out, and after being pressured in the scrum Steven Lawrie got over the whitewash. The score was soured through an injury to Knights scrumhalf, Nathan Jones who had to be stretchered off before Roberts kicked the conversion.

The Goldington Road outfit continued to put the Knights under pressure, and eventually Neil Conchrane was sent into the bin following repeated infringements.

From the resulting penalty the Blues got their third try of the day when Goodman bulldozed his way over the line, with Pritchard taking the extras.

It was Doncaster, though who ended the half the strongest with their second try of the afternoon.

Full-back Stevie McColl outpaced the Bedford defence after breaking though following a scrum and Roberts slotted the ball home from in front of the posts.

The Blues came out immediately from the break to secure a vital bonus point.

A slick move between Thrower, and Paul Tupai got the ball to Pritchard who chipped the ball forward for the on-rushing Dorrian to dot down.

Blues’ Canadian international skipper then stepped up to take the points.

Doncaster reduced the deficit to seven points with a converted score of their own soon after as the Blues collapsed. Dan Frazier dotted down after Andy Wright did the ground work to get through the Bedford defence. Roberts converted but then missed a penalty.

But the Knights brought the scores within two points after Bedford failed to deal with a Doncaster line-out and Chris Briers crashed over the line. Roberts missed the conversion, and Blues fans hoped that a Pritchard penalty was enough to ease their side to victory.

It wasn’t to be as the Knights eventually took the lead through Dom Parsons after he dotted down from a mauled line out, and Roberts converted the effort from the wing to take the lead and do what Dorrian had done to them last weekend.

The second half was summed up for Bedford when, in their final attack, on the away side, they suffered a serious injury of their own, when the Vass’s leg gave way beneath him as he was approaching the line.

Bedford Starting XV:Thrower (Schmidt 71), Taylor, Dorrian, Bedford, Pritchard, Sharp (Vass 52), Chudley (Veenendaal 56), Walsh (Boulton FR injury 72), Richmond (Locke 63), Boulton (Seal 50), Howard, Tupai (Kruis 61), Gillanders, Lewitt (Rae 47), Goodman

Referee: Rob Debney

Attendance: 2375

MATCH REPORT V DONCASTER

Mike Rayer admitted that the Bedford Blues ‘got out of jail’ after they grabbed a victory from the jaws of defeat in a tense affair against Doncaster.

A late conversion from Myles Dorrian after a Mike Howard try gave the Blues a 17-16 win in the 80th minute. Howard had scored earlier in what had been a tense, nervous game of rugby, which had at times looked as though it was going to go in favour of the south Yorkshire side.

After the game Blues’ director of rugby admitted he was relieved with the win.

“It’s a bit of a relief and frankly we got out of jail, but sometimes it’s about finding a way to win and we’ve done that,” he said. “We’ve scored two good tries but not done a lot in between.

“It showed character, but there certainly was a bit of a hangover from last week, and after they scored the late try and went in front, our players could have gone into their shells and their heads could have gone down, but they came back. We scored a good try and fair play to Mylo (Dorrian) who stepped up to kick the winning conversion. I think Donny will be upset about that because they were probably the better side, and they are going to be smarting next week.”

The Blues travelled north with an injury ravaged squad for the second time in two weeks, and Rayer revealed that captain James Pritchard was a late withdrawal after being taken ill with food poisoning on the coach.

The game itself was not a spectacle, but the first half presented very few opportunities for both sides. The Blues were on the back foot immediately, when they lost their own line-out on the 22, and Edward Jackson stole the ball before being brought down. Yet, when the ball was played back out wide Edd Thrower intercepted and made a quick counter attack, before Will Chudley knocked on. The Blues then missed an early opportunity to take the lead when a Dorrian penalty drifted wide.

Rayer’s side needed time to settle into the game, and when Dorrian kicked over a penalty 17 minutes in to give Bedford the lead, the nerves seemed to initially settle. Bedford then suffered another injury scare when play had to be stopped after Tom Bedford took a big hit and stayed on the ground. However, after a few minutes of treatment he was deemed fit to carry on. Neither side really got a grip of the game in the first period, but the Knights did level the score through a Tristan Roberts drop-goal after a scrappy period of phases in the Blues’ 22.

With the majority of the game playing out in the scrum through the midfield, chances were hard to come by, and two late missed penalties for either side were all the crowd had to entertain them in the closing stages of the half.

The second period started with far more intensity than the first. Bedford came out of the blocks first, but after Thrower made another break through the back line, only for a knock-on to ruin a threatening position.

Doncaster then took the lead through a Roberts penalty under the posts after a spell of dominating possession by their forwards.

But it was the Bedford pack that would be the one to break the deadlock. After three penalties the Blues put the Knights under real pressure in the scrum and eventually Howard broke through to dot down. Dorrian kicked the extras.

The try sparked the game into action, and after kicking two penalties into the corner themselves the Knights retook the lead by Daniel Frazer mauling over the line but the lead stayed at just one point as Roberts missed the conversion.

Doncaster then looked to have sealed the victory when Stephen McColl broke down the wing to dot down. However, the Blues showed grit and determination to add late drama to the game when they got a score of their own through Howard’s second of the day.

A quick tap penalty was charged through by Paul Tupai and Alex Rae, before Howard touched down. Dorrian converted under pressure to give the Blues a single point lead with a minute left of play and they held out for what will surely be an import win for their play-off ambitions.

BLUES: Thrower, Taylor, Bedford (Sharpe 73), Vass, Schmidt, Dorrian, Chudley (Walshe 80), Walsh (Boot 73), Richmond, Seal (Boulton 50), Howard, Tupai (c), Rae, Lewitt, Goodman (Gillanders 69)

Replacements not used: Tomes, Bassett.

MATCH REPORT V CORNISH PIRATES

Bedford Blues suffered a blow to their hopes of topping their play-off group, after being sunk by the Cornish Pirates.

In front of Sky’s HD cameras the Cornish Pirates 31-18 win was of Titanic proportions, whilst as the game went on the Blues sank faster than those aboard the Bismark.

Tries from Mike Howard and Edd Thrower were not enough to thwart the threat of the Cornish side, who dotted down three times in the second period through Gareth Cattle, Rob Cook and Dave ward. Cook also added 13 points with his boot, to compound the victory.

Both sides understandably had started nervously, but it was James Pritchard who made the early threats for Bedford, bursting through the Pirates defence, before offloading to Duncan Taylor who knocked on.

Jonny Bentley nearly made the first break through for the Cornish side, only to be stopped in his tracks by Pritchard who took a knock in the process

However Cook gave the Pirates an early lead when he kicked over a penalty from 22 soon after.

From the kick off Wes Davies nearly ran the length of the pitch to score, before being stopped by Handre Schmidt as Bedford looked jaded in the early stages.

The Blues had to withstand several phases of Cornish possession, until Cook kicked another penalty after a Bedford infringement in the scrum.

Pritchard, who had earlier been injured, had to be substituted. And although Mike Rayer will hope it is nothing that the injury to his leading point’s scorer isn’t too serious, his replacement Thrower was the first to dot down on the afternoon.

After a fantastic kick from Taylor put the Pirates backs under pressure on their own ten metres line, the Blues turned over the ball and recycled it out to the rushing Thrower, who found the gap to cross the whitewash, with Dorrian taking the extras.

However the Blues lead was short-lived after the Bedford scrum was penalised again, and Cook kicked his third penalty of the afternoon.

Soon after Bedford were ahead again, this time through lock Mike Howard, who forced his way over the line after several probing phases of possession.

The Pirates attempted a counter-attack of their own, but Ben Lewitt thwarted a certain try when he intercepted an offload from Grant Pointer on his on 5 metres line.

Pointer levelled the scores before the half time break with his first penalty of the afternoon, with a kick from the half way line before Dorrian restored the three point lead with a penalty of his own moments later.

With the Blues going down the Goldington Road slope in the second period, they home side were the stronger side, and should have gone further ahead, when Dorrian missed a penalty kick. However they had to be on their toes, when Cook danced through the Bedford line, before valiantly stopped by Veenendaal.

Turnover ball was the name of game in the early stage of the half, with neither side willing to keep the ball for longer than a few phases. However it was the away that took the game by the scruff of the neck.

Thrower put the Blues under pressure when he kicked his own heels when chasing a kick down, which resulted in a scrum to Pirates - their first attack of the half. And they duly took advantage when Cook picked up the ball in the midfield to dot down and then convert his own effort.

That score seemed to blow wind into the sails of the Pirates, who soon got across the whitewash for their second, after Dave Ward broke through and offloaded to Gareth Cattle who scored. Cook lined up to take the extras but his kick was charged down by the rushing Schmidt.

Thrower and Ollie Dodge did their best to eke back the score down the right wing, but neither were successfully able to get past the resolute defence. However it was Dorrian who brought the scores closer through well taken penalty.

However the momentum was still with the Cornish side, who threatened through their powerful pack, but the Blues held on for a while before the game was finally settled, by Ward.

The Pirates hooker burst through the Bedford line to dot down under the posts. Cook converted and the Cornish side found themselves 13 points in front – a lead they thoroughly deserved.

Nothing seemed to be working for Mike Rayer’s side on the afternoon, who kept making errors when they were in dangerous positions until the final whistle.

Blues starting XV: Pritchard (c) (Thrower 12) Schmidt, Dodge, Vass, Taylor (Sharp 59) Dorrian, Veenendaal (Chudley 49),Walsh, Richmond (Clark 61), Seal (Boulton 58), Howard (Tomes 69) Rae, Gillanders, Lewitt, Tupai (Goodman 54)

Referee: Greg Garner

Attendance: 2725

MATCH REPORT V ROTHERHAM

A storming second half performance gave Bedford Blues the perfect start to their play-off campaign as they breezed past Rotherham.

They registered 46 unanswered points in the second half, which included six tries after a close fought 40 minutes.

Both Handre Schmidt and Edd Thrower grabbed a brace each, while Paul Tupai, Dan Richmond, Joe Clark and Ben Lewitt also got on the scoresheet.

James pritchard and Myles Dorrian kicked 14 and four points respectively.

Mike Rayer’s side headed up to Clifton Lane hoping to avenge their 19-16 defeat earlier in the season, when Juan Pablo Socino converted his own try to win the game at the death.

And by the half time break, at least, this game hung in the balance.

The Blues were behind within five minutes, when Socino converted a penalty from 22 metres.

But the Titans were dealt an early blow when Sam Dickinson was forced off with a broken arm to be replaced by former Blue Adam Kettle.

In the last encounter between the two sides in Yorkshire, Kettle was involved in a scuffle with Paul Tupai, which resulted in the latter being slapped with a five-match ban by the RFU.

However, Tupai was to get his own back on the field in the right way with the first score of the afternoon.

It was a score the Blues deserved, after dominating play and camping out of the Rotherham line. The Samoan international emerged with the ball after an almighty surge and the try was converted by Pritchard.

Only three minutes later, Blues were over the line again, this time Richmond finished a flowing move of quick offloads, which the Titans couldn’t deal with.

Pritchard missed his chance to get the extras.

But Bedford then shot themselves in the foot when Gregor Gillanders was turned over in their 22, and were punished by Socino who danced past Dorrian to dot down and then convert.

Bedford reacted well to the score against them and looked to increase their lead but Will Chudley knocked on three metres out.

Blues then started the second period in the worst possible way, as Rotherham broke and scored within four minutes of the restart.

Centre Jonny Hepworth broke through their defence and the ball was recycled to Matt Rhodes who finished neatly in the corner, but Socino’s conversion cannoned back off the post.

Pritchard levelled the scores a minute later with a penalty from the 22, although he squandered the chance to take the lead with a second attempt moments later.

The Blues weren’t made to rue that miss, as Schmidt got down over the line for his first soon after to begin the rout.

The score came after replacement Daryl Veenendaal charged down a Rotherham kick, and from the resulting scrum the ball was moved wide to the South African. Pritchard then kicked the conversion.

After another penalty from the captain extended Blues’ lead, the Yorkshire outfit collapsed.

A 25 minute period saw the ruthless Blues take advantage of a tired Titans team.

Lewitt then dotted down under the posts after the ball was recycled centrally from a maul driven by Robin Boot.

Schmidt’s second of the game came after getting on the end of a pass from Ian Vass to cross the whitewash while the sixth came from a intercepted pass.

Vass ran the length of the pitch before a quick move between Jake Sharp, Ollie Dodge and Dorrian set Clark over the line for number six.

The defeat became ever more embarrassing for the hosts when Thrower scored their final two tries of the game.

The first came when he pounced on an air kick from Swatkins, to cross over and soon after the replacement got down in the corner following a flowing counter-attacking move.

Myles Dorrian converted both efforts to put Bedford top of play-off Pool B ahead of Sunday’s televised home clash with Cornish Pirates.

BLUES: Pritchard (c) (Thrower 75), Schmidt, Bedford (Sharp ), Vass, Dodge, Dorrian, Chudley (Veenendaal 57) , Ovens (Boot 47), Richmond (Clark ), Seal, Howard (Tomes 75), Rae, Gillanders, Lewitt, Tupai (Goodman 59).

ATTENDANCE: 1,373

MATCH REPORT V LEINSTER

Handre Schmidt lived up to his nickname of 'Score' as he ran in four tries as the Blues easily dispensed of Leinster at Goldington Road on Saturday.

Ollie Dodge and Edd Thrower also got on the scoresheet while James Pritchard added 20 points with his boot.

Mike Rayer called Schmidt his ‘best ever signing’ after the match but he will have been delighted with manner that the whole team went about thoroughly out-playing their professional counterparts in a thrilling game of rugby.

Schmidt was the first to get over the whitewash with his first and Blues never looked threatened by the Irish side after.

From a Blues line-out, Sam Walsh moved the ball forward before it was recycled to the wing, through Chudley and Myles Dorrian. Schmidt dotted down in the corner after a smart offload from Pritchard, who then missed the chance to add the extras.

The Canadian international made up for the miss though with a penalty from 30 metres, before playing a key role in Schmidt’s second try only a minute later.

The Blues captain picked up the ball just inside the Leinster half and burst towards the line. Goldington Road cheered as he seemed to run through a mass of Irish bodies before emerging unscathed, to offload to the former Cambridge man.

Schmidt was stopped short of the line after excellent handling from Pritchard and Sacha Harding. However, the Blues then moved the ball to the other wing with such speed and accuracy that Leinster had little time to re-organise. Tom Bedford took advantage and played the final pass to Ollie Dodge who had enough room to get down in the corner and Pritchard converted.

Leinster did get some points on the board before the end of the first period when Ian Madigan kicked a penalty in front of the posts to make the lead 20-3.

The Blues increased their lead early in the second period through two Pritchard penalties. It was only after Leinster went 23 points behind the Blues that they crossed the whitewash themselves. Leo Auva’a crossed the line, after taking a quick tap penalty from five metres, with Madigan getting the extras.

That score only served to fire up the Blues once more and Schmidt got his hat-trick in the next attack. Chudley made progress into the Irish territory, before being downed. Schmidt picked up the ball and weaved his way through to the line and Pritchard kicked the conversion.

It got worse for the Magners League side when replacement Jordi Murphy was sent to the bin for repeated infringements in the ruck.

The Blues then killed the game with the man advantage as the rampant Schmidt got his fourth, and Bedford’s fifth try of the afternoon. The winger dotted down when the ball came to him from replacement scrum half Daryl Veenendaal following a line-out. The referee awarded the try after checking the ball had crossed the line, and Pritchard took the points.

The only disappointment of the day came when Harding and Brendan Burke – playing against his former club – were forced to come off through injury.

And shortly after Auva’a was able to get their second try of the game when he broke through Blues’ defence for his second. The afternoon got worse for the Irish side when Madigan missed the conversion in front of the posts before Pritchard showed him how to do it with a penalty from 35 metres.

Edd Thrower the put the icing on the cake with a fine solo effort. After intercepting the ball ten metres from his try line, he ran the length of the pitch to score. Pritchard converted to give round the home side 50 points, and put them into the semi-final draw tomorrow against either Worcester, Pontypridd or Bristol and Ayr who play this afternoon.

Blues Starting XV: Pritchard (c) Schmidt, Burke (Thrower 70), Bedford (Sharp 21), Dodge, Dorrian, Chudley (Veenendaal 55), Walsh (Boot 63), Richmond (Clark 66), Seal, Howard (Tomes 68), Rae, Gillanders, Harding (Goodman 68), Tupai

Referee: David Jones

Attendance: 1,313

MATCH REPORT V MOSELEY

Bedford Blues turned their attentions away from the league to secure a place in the quarter finals of the British and Irish Cup with a hard-fought win over Moseley.

The 28-15 victory in the final Pool C clash, saw Bedford finish top of the group to set up a home quarter final tie with Irish side Leinster.

A penalty try, along with scores from Sam Walsh, Handre Schmidt and James Pritchard ended the midlands side’s 100 per cent record in the competition.

Moseley, despite having only won five games all season in the league, have been a different proposition in the cup, having beaten the likes of Neath, Swansea, and London Welsh.

They beat Ulster 26-24 at Raven Hill midweek and ultimately, it was their efforts in that game that contributed to them losing this match.

In the early stages of the tie, Moseley hardly looked like a side that had fought a hard mid-week battle, and probed the Blues defence looking for an early score.

Bedford were lucky when Moseley didn’t take more of an advantage, when a Myles Dorrians pass was intercepted on the halfway line.

They were also grateful to Schmidt who beat Moseley winger Nathan Bressington to the ball when clean through after a kick to the corner.

In all honesty, the first twenty minutes was a dull and drab affair affected by the wind blowing across Goldington Road which made it tough for both sides.

However it was Moseley who dotted down first.

Captain Neil Mason went over the line under the post, after the midlands pack had forced the Blues defence back to their own try-line. Andrew Borgen took the easy extras.

That score livened up the match and the Blues looked to hit back immediately. When Moseley fullback Anthony Carter fumbled the kick-off, Bedford’s pack pounced, forcing an error and then dominating from the resulting scrums, only to be eventually turned over when in possession.

With hardly any opportunities for the home side, the crowd became restless, and started to turn on referee Terry Hall’s decisions, clearly in frustration at their side’s lacklustre performance.

However it wasn’t long until they had another villain to pick on, in Moseley lock Richard Scott who was sent to the bin a minute before the break for an infringement in the ruck, on his own try line, that eventually led to the penalty score.

Pritchard took the extras, but there was still time for Moseley to retake the lead through a late Borgan penalty on the stroke of half-time.

The Blues came out for the second period going down the slope with the wind in their backs and with Mike Rayer’s words ringing in their ears, went straight on the attack to score.

Sam Walsh dotted down after tremendous work from the pack mauling from a Blues line-out.

Pritchard, with the wind in his sails was able to convert from the left wing and give Bedford the lead for the first time.

However their lead was to last seven minutes when Moseley scored in bizarre fashion. Winger Bressington broke through the Blues defence, only to stumble after a late tap-tackle. The ball was then picked up by number 8 Ben Maidment, who crossed the whitewash after initially shinning the ball away.

Referee Hall, checked for the knock-on before awarding the score.

The game ebbed and flowed, but the next vital score came to the Blues through Schmidt, who was dotting down his 15th try of the season. After being played through by replacement scrum-half Daryl Veenendaal, he danced past the last man to dive over line after a 15 metre sprint. Pritchard took the extras.

The midweek game for Moseley was starting to take its toll on the midlands side, who had clearly tired in the second period, and it showed when the Blues got their forth score of the afternoon.

James Pritchard converted his own try, when he was found all alone by Paul Tupai, after several phases of probing play by the home side.

The Blues were content to hold onto the ball, although Moseley offered little in the way of threat to the Bedford defence. The home side eventually saw out the final moments of the match to set up the home quarter-final against Leinster.

Blues Starting XV: Thrower (Bassett 52), Schmidt, Bedford, Vass, Pritchard (c), Dorrian (Sharp 62), Chudley (Veenendaal 57), Walsh, Richmond (Clark 62), Seal (Boot 57), Howard (Tomes 66), Rae, Gillanders, Lewitt (Goodman 54), Tupai

Referee: Terry Hall

MATCH REPORT V PLYMOUTH

Bedford Blues rounded off the first stage of the Championship season with a less than convincing win over Plymouth at Brickfields on Saturday afternoon.

Plymouth may have finished in the bottom four and only scored 28 tries all season but they certainly didn’t play like that and Bedford had to dig deep to sneak the win in stoppage time.

After a subdued start, the game suddenly sprung into life when Albion turned the ball over at a Blues ruck and fly half Alex Davies galloped into the Blues 22. Half a dozen good phases of play followed before Bedford forced the knock on, but from the resulting scrum Plymouth again turned the ball over before going wide to captain for the day Aaron Carpenter who went over for an 11th minute try with Davies converting superbly.

Davies should have extended the lead three minutes later with a hit down the middle, but the direction was all wrong. James Pritchard made no mistake when a similar opportunity presented itself in the 21st minute to make the score 7-3.

The Blues resurgence was short-lived though as Plymouth again exploited gaps. Robin Copeland went straight through the middle of Bedford’s defence  before the ball was played to Keni Fisilau who smashed through before offloading to Cameron Mitchell to score and again Davies converted.

Blues finally kicked into gear in the 30th minute when the forwards drove on from a lineout before the backs took over. Brendan Burke showed a quick pair of hands before Pritchard came into the line and improvised a pass to Ollie Dodge who scored with Pritchard adding the extras.

The half ended with Bedford doing what they do best – scoring. Mike Howard and Alex Rae ploughed on with support from the pack, but when the ball came out to Ian Vass he played a sublime kick over the Albion backs and straight into the hands of Dodge who passed inside to Pritchard who dotted down under the posts before converting his effort to make it 14-17.

After the break it took Bedford just seven minutes to extend their lead. Plymouth secured lineout ball on their five metre line but as Ruiari Cushion tried to kick clear, Alex Rae blocked the effort and score an unconverted try.

Plymouth got themselves back into the game in the 55th minute although it appeared to be in rather controversial circumstances. Sharp had covered a kick through from Carpenter, but as he rose he appeared to be kicked in the head. The fly half looked to be out cold, but with no whistle going Albion sent the ball out to Davies who crossed the line and Davies converted to make it 21-22.

With the wind in their sails Plymouth started to play with confidence and when the Blues put hands in the ruck Davies took the opportunity to go for the uprights and slotted his kick with ease to give the home side a two point lead.

As the clock ticked down, replacement Tom Bedford went on a blistering run before being stopped in the 22. With an offside advantage the Blues sent the ball wide, but as Sacha Harding crossed the line the ball slipped away.

Amazingly, that wasn’t the Blues last opportunity. The game came down to the last throw of the dice and when the stakes are like that, you want the ball to go to Handre Schmidt. Albion could have safely cleared their line, but the ball didn’t find touch and was instead sent along the line to the South African who broke two challenges and scored in the corner to break Albion hearts.

Scorers. Plymouth: Try; Carpenter, Mitchell, Davies – Con; Davies (3) – Pen; Davies.  Bedford: Tries; Dodge, Pritchard, Rae, Schmidt – Con; Pritchard (2) - Pen; Pritchard

Bedford line-up: Pritchard, Schmidt, Burke (Bedford 34-40, 46), Vass, Dodge, Sharp (Dorrian 57), Veenendaal (Chudley 57), Walsh, Clark (Richmond 62), Boot (Ovens 62), Howard, Rae, Lewitt (Gillanders 62), Harding, Goodman (Tupai 50). Not used:

Referee: JP Doyle

Attendance: 1885

MATCH REPORT V BEES

A thrilling performance from Bedford Blues saw them nil Birmingham and Solihull to almost secure second spot in the league.

Two early penalty tries, along with scores from Handre Schmidt, Sam Walsh, Dan Richmond, Jackson Wray, Ollie Dodge and debutant Josh Bassett, sealed a magnificent 52-0 win.

Bedford started the brighter of the two sides, Jake Sharp, showing creative vision, with an early cross field kick, but the rushing Schmidt was beaten just by the chasing Bees defender.

There was a nasty element to the early stages of the clash and both captains were given a stern talking too after four minutes following a show of handbags from both sides, stemming from Birmingham’s inability to cope with the Blues’ scrummaging. The weakness of the midlands side’s pack would lead to Bedford’s first two scores of the evening, through two penalty tries.

The referee awarded the opener from the first play just after his words with the captains, and Pritchard took the easy extras from under the posts.

Moments later, after being pushed back over their own try line by the Bedford scrum, referee Andrew Taylorson has no choice but to award a second penalty try when Mike Denbee touched down the ball when he was clearly offside. Pritchard could not miss his second kick to convert.

It wasn’t long after that the Blues finally got a player over the whitewash. A turnover ball created from a magnificent Jackson Wray tackle was played through three phases, before Pritchard broke down the wing, offloading to South African wing Schmidt, who beat the last man for pace to dive over the line.

Blues nearly had the bonus point within 20 minutes, but Ollie Dodge’s kick and chase was just too long.

Three minutes later Bedford had the bonus point they needed to all but secure second spot in the Championship.

After Sharp kicked a penalty into the corner, the resulting mauled line-out was charged over the whitewash. Prop Sam Walsh emerged with the ball, and Pritchard did well to get the extra two points.

With the scoring rate at over one point for every minute played, it was only when the Bees were 26 points down did they start to threaten the Bedford try line. Jimmy Williams ran down the blindside of the scrum but the home defence stood strong, eventually forcing a penalty from the midlands outfit to release the pressure.

But any threat by the Bees left little in the way of a sting and soon Blues had their fifth touchdown of the evening, Dan Richmond putting the ball down after another dominating maul. Pritchard added the extras.

Birmingham and Solihull had one more attempt at putting on a score when Rob Connelly broke through the Blues line, but the home side’s defence regrouped to see out the half.

The second session started with more handbags on the Birmingham try line, before Josh Bassett, came on for his first league appearance, having scored midweek on his first senior start in the 43-9 British & Irish cup win away to Swansea.

And not long after, Wray, having scored for parent club Saracens against Sale in the LV= Cup, got on the score sheet, when the again dominant scrum forced its way over the Bees line.

The referee eventually took action after the match erupted into scuffles for the third time, with Sacha Harding and Bees’ Adam Clayton getting sent to the bin.

Although the second period was a far less efficient affair, with the scores coming less often, Bedford were still able to add to their tally. After another line-out to the Blues, their pack effectively mauled forward, before Daryl Veenendaal made a smart offload to Ollie Dodge, who finished neatly under the posts, with Pritchard converting.

Debutant Bassett then sealed a fine win and brought the Blues to the 50-point mark. After some flowing attacking rugby, which included some slick offloading through the team, the youngster found the gap in the Birmingham defence, and Pritchard put the final icing on the win by booting the extras.

Bedford Blues starting XV: Pritchard (c), Schmidt (Bassett 45), Bedford, Vass, Dodge, Sharp (Dorrian, 69), Chudley (Veenendaal, 48), Walsh, Richmond (Clark 48), Seal (Ovens, 48), Howard, Tupai (Tomes,61), Gillanders, Harding (Lewitt,72), Wray

Referee: Andrew Taylorson

MATCH REPORT V SWANSEA

Wing Handre Schmidt crossed for a hat-trick of tries, as Bedford Blues, unbeaten in the British & Irish Cup, gained a bonus-point victory at Swansea to replace Moseley at the top of Pool C.

A fourth straight win for the Blues left them four points clear of their rivals from the Championship, who also possess an unbeaten tag.

Having previously carded wins over Ulster Ravens, London Welsh and Neath, momentum is now with the Bedford going in to the pool clincher with Moseley at Goldington Road on February 26.

Courtesy of Dragon Tales Rugby

Before then all eyes will focus on Ravenhill, and the rearranged fixture on February 23 between Ulster Ravens and Moseley.

With the tie at Swansea having been twice postponed last month - due to adverse weather conditions - Bedford slotted it in ahead of Friday’s home Championship meeting with Birmingham & Solihull.

Josh Bassett was included on the wing for his senior debut while two other Academy players – fly-half Elliot Bale and centre Steve Smith – performed bench duty.

In wet conditions at St Helen’s, an early penalty chance for Swansea fly-half James Dixon just failed, but Bedford soon hit back in devastating fashion.

Captain and full-back James Pritchard hit space on halfway, and was just held up short of the try-line.

Soon after it was the turn of wing Schmidt to burst clear, and a last-ditch Dixon tackle also frustrated him.

Swansea hit the front in the 18th minute when a Nicky Thomas penalty hit the crossbar and went over, but Pritchard soon delivered an equalising penalty.

The Blues took the lead in the 23rd minute when a cross kick from fly-half Jake Sharp picked out Schmidt, who raced clear for a fine try.

Courtesy of Dragon Tales Rugby

Full-back Pritchard added the extras but the Whites pulled back to 10-6 via a Dixon penalty on 26 minutes.

However, Bedford’s attacking intent caught Swansea out again in the 32nd minute with wing Schmidt claiming a close-range try that full-back Pritchard improved on.

Bedford, who led 17-6 at the break, surrendered ground on the restart and Dixon landed a second penalty.

That led to the Whites coming more into contention, but the game was all up for them once a defensive blunder led to the Blues wing completing a try hat-trick on 53 minutes.

It went unconverted and after Bedford hooker Joe Clark was binned, wing Bassett lost his marker in the 63rd minute to record the bonus-point try with full-back Pritchard converting.

That extended the lead to 29-9 and in the 70th minute wing Bassett engineered a try for supporting flanker Gregor Gillanders.

Pritchard landed another conversion, and during final play he rounded things off with his side’s sixth try.

A fifth conversion gave him 18 points on the night as Bedford easily condemned Swansea to a third successive defeat.

Blues: L Ovens (D Seal 72), J Clark (D Richmond 75), R Boot, S Tomes (P Tupai 65), A Rae, G Gillanders, B Lewitt, C Goodman, N Walshe (D Veenendaal 56), J Sharp (E Bale 72), J Bassett, T Bedford, B Burke (S Smith 66), H Schmidt, J Pritchard. Replacment not used: S Harding.

MATCH REPORT V LONDON WELSH

Chris Goodman said the Bedford Blues players were ‘gutted’ not to come away from Old Deer Park with at least a draw after a late Gordon Ross penalty won the match for London Welsh.

The Blues however will be pleased to have got themselves two bonus points, but tries from captain Dan Richmond, Myles Dorrian and Edd Thrower as well as a penalty score were not enough to get the win as a mammoth 55-metre penalty in the dying moments of the game turned a draw into a defeat.

Equal scores probably would have been a fair result as both sides were dominant in different parts of their game. Whilst Welsh made the most of their kicking opportunities, the Blues were the better side in the scrum.

Goodman, the Blues number 8, paid tribute to the front row after the clash.

“We really worked on our scrummaging this week,” said the forward. “We’ve been strong in that area this season. Credit has to go to the front row, Dan Seal, Dan Richmond and Phil Boulton were fantastic.” Ultimately what cost the Blues victory was their failure to convert three of their tries and two penalties, in an extremely windy Richmond.

“The conditions were tough, but they were the same for both team. I think both sides lacked discipline but we failed to take our chances, but that’s rugby,” said Goodman.

“The boys are gutted, we stuck to our game plan pretty well, and we created a lot. We know that Welsh are a top team, but at the end of the day I think we deserved to win the game” It was Mike Rayer’s side who were to come closest to scoring first when Will Chudley found a gap in the Exiles back line, before knocking on.

Thrower then missed a chance to gets some points on the board when he missed a penalty from the right wing.

Captain Dan Richmond then dotted down after several phases of dominance by the Blues pack to finally get the scoreboard moving though Thrower struggled kicking with the wind and missed the chance to take the extras.

In the same fixture last season, Ernst Claassens scored two tries for the Exiles in their 28-17 win at Old Deer Park, and it was the South African who was to convert their first this time around.

However, it was made by Joshua Drauniniu, who danced past three men in blue, before eventually being taken down inches short. The ball was recycled out wide to the full back who finished neatly.

Drauniniu was then instrumental in the Exiles taking the lead. The former Harlequins wing barged through the Blues defence before offloading to the rushing Michael Hills, who crossed the whitewash while Ross took the extras from in front of the posts.

Bedford were lucky not to fall further behind after a knock-on from Ian Vass gave the home side an attacking foothold, but their defence stood strong.

Bedford’s scrum had been dominant all afternoon, and after a number of infringements by the Exiles, they were awarded a penalty try by referee Steve Lee and in one of the preceding scrums, Welsh prop Shawn Pittman was sent to the bin. Thrower conquered the wind to kick his first points of the afternoon and level the scores.

It was the hosts who led at the break, despite a late goal attempt from Thrower which came back off the post. Ross showed him how it was done and converted his first penalty of the afternoon after Richmond was penalised in the ruck.

It was the Blues who started the second period on fire, with a magnificent display of pack play.

They came forward in phase after phase, moving across the pitch from right to left before the ball was finally recycled out to Dorrian who crossed the whitewash.

Brenden Burke was sent to the bin midway through the second half when he was punished for an infringement in the ruck and the Exiles soon made the most of their one-man advantage when Paul Sampson, who also scored against the Blues in the fixture last season, broke through and ran 50 metres to score under the posts. Ross converted to give London Welsh a five-point advantage.

Bedford had been knocking on the Welsh door as they looked to close the gap, and after a scrum the ball eventually found its way wide, via Dorrian and Ollie Dodge to Thrower, who put the ball down in the corner. Replacement James Pritchard couldn’t give his side the lead as he missed the conversion.

The Goldington Road outfit pushed for the late win but Pritchard couldn’t take a pass catch cleanly from Sacha Harding and was pushed into touch when he was metres from the line.

That allowed Ross the chance to break Bedford fans’ hearts with the huge penalty from inside his own half. With the wind behind him the ball was just taken over the bar for the three points and the win.

BLUES: Thrower, Schmidt, Burke, Vass (Pritchard 69), Dodge, Dorrian, Chudley, Seal, Richmond (c) (Clark 17), Boulton (Walsh 57), Howard, Tupai, Rae (Gillanders 75), Harding, Goodman

REPLACEMENTS NOT USED: Lewitt, Walshe, Sharp.

REFEREE: Steve Lee

MATCH REPORT V NOTTINGHAM

The crowd at Goldington Road were treated to a scintillating display of attacking rugby as Bedford Blues brushed aside an in-form Nottingham.

The Blues demolished the midlands outfit 47-19, although very few people would have predicted that score ten minutes into the game.

Nottingham, unbeaten in eight games looked to be heading to their ninth straight win, after three tries, and two conversions saw them race into an early 19-0 lead.

However, tries from Bendan Burke,and Sacha Harding, as well as inspired, brace-bagging performances from men-of-the-match, Will Chudley and Edd Thrower, saw the Blues eventually record a dominant win. The latter also added 17 points with his boot.

Apart from the first ten minutes the Blues were rampant, scoring 47 points, without reply in 70 minutes.

“It’s not too bad when you put it like that,” said Thrower after the game. “Tell Mike [Rayer] that because he had a real go at us at half time. I don’t think you’d be able to write what he said. But he did say that we needed to cut out the errors that saw them score three good tries.

“We knew they were going to come out fast, and that’s what they did, which was a bit of a shock to the system on our own patch. We weren’t good enough for the first 20 minutes and we let ourselves down. Personally, I was pretty happy with my performance.”

From an early penalty, Nottingham were able to score from a maul with England srum half Ben Youngs’ older brother Tom emerging with the ball for the first try two minutes in.

Only moments later, winger Andrew Savage broke through to dive over the whitewash for the second, and within ten minutes Savage doubled up. The Nottingham pack drove the Blues back before the ball moved out wide to Savage, who finished neatly. Two conversions put Nottingham 19-0 ahead of a shell shocked Blues.

However, Bedford soon hit back. When Nottingham conceded a number of penalties on their own try line.

A quick tap found its way to Chudley, who squeezed through the Nottingham back line to dot down.

Thrower missed the conversion but redeemed himself by kicking over a penalty minutes later as Bedford continued to eek back the deficit.

Their second try of the afternoon, came after a long spell of possession, which ended with a swift break by Myles Dorrian. He made a smart offload to Harding who finished and Thrower made no mistake with the extras.

The full back, deputising for injured captain James Pritchard, converted a 40-metre penalty late on in the half to make it 19-18 to Nottingham at the interval.

Nottingham came out in the second period looking to increase their small lead, but the Bedford back line was far more resolute than in the first half.

Blues finally took the lead when scrum half Chudley scored his second try of the game after starting and ending his own move.

Having turned-over a Nottingham scrum he raced down the blindside, and chipped the ball over the Nottingham defence, who could only knock-on.

From the resulting tap-penalty, Chudley danced over the line to dot down.

Thrower converted and then kicked another penalty to increase the Bedford lead.

Rayer’s side then banished all thoughts of their nightmare start to score three tries in quick succession and get a bonus point that looked so unlikely ten minutes in.

 

Thrower got two late scores, to match his performance with the boot, either side of a Brendan Burke try under the posts as Bedford ran away with the game.

All three finishes epitomised the flowing, attacking rugby Bedford are renowned for, as they came about from moves that nearly involved the entire team.

A 30 metre run by replacement hooker Joe Clark in the build up to Thrower’s second was one of the highlights of the half.

BLUES: Thrower, Schmidt, Burke, Bedford (Vass 45), Dodge, Dorrian (Sharp 74), Chudley (Walshe 70), Walsh (Seal 45), Richmond (c) (Clark 61), Boulton, Howard, Rae, Gillanders, Harding (Lewitt 65), Tupai (Goodman 61)

MATCH REPORT V NEATH

Bedford Blues continued their excellent cup form with a hard fought win at Neath.

A single try for flanker Sacha Harding, and eight points for Captain James Pritchard was enough to seal at 13-6 win in the Pool C match of the British and Irish Cup. The fact that Bedford are only the second team to come away from the Gnoll with a win this season, shows how difficult the game was.

Mike Rayer had shuffled his pack with only three players, James Pritchard, Tom Bedford and Sean Tomes retaining their place from the starting XV in the win against London Welsh at the weekend.

With Neath having beaten Ulster Ravens 25-20 in Belfast it was surprising to see the Welsh team looking so lacklustre in the early stage of the clash, and ultimately the Blues made the most of this period to win the match, in what was an otherwise even affair And it was the Blues were the first on the board with a penalty, calmly kicked over by Pritchard in the first minute.

Blues looked up for the challenge in the early stages as they dominated territory and possession. Both Ollie Dodge and Pritchard made surging runs into the Black’s half before being taken down.

But it was Blues who were to cross the whitewash for the only time in the game when Duncan Taylor and Nick Walshe combined before the scrum half offloaded to Harding who finished well. Pritchard took the easy extras.

After the score Neath came into the game, with more possession and slightly more territory but the Blues battled through preventing the strong Neath forwards from crossing the whitewash despite constant phases of pressure.

For all their toil Neath were only rewarded with a penalty converted by Dai Langdon, as the Blues defence stood strong.

The pressure did not give though from the Welsh side, and the Blues were again fortunate no to concede a try when Neath knocked on whilst mauling only inches from the line.

A sore point of the half was a big hit by Neath’s winger Kevin James on Taylor, who had to be replaced by Edd Thrower after what looked like the winger sustained a shoulder injury after falling awkwardly.

The second period started as the first ended with Neath pushing for their first score of the evening. They would have got it had Nick Walshe not intercepted a pass to the Neath wing 7 metres out when it looked like the Black’s side would score.

However it was the Blues who were the first to get points in the second period when Pritchard kick over a penalty after Neath’s prop Anthony Lott was sent to the bin for an infringement in the ruck.

The game suffered its second serious injury when Neath’s lock, Adam Powell had to be stretchered off, when he was clearing in some pain, after an innocuous looking challenge.

The Welsh side continued to press, but the Bedford defence, led by props Sam Walshe, and Dan Seal, as well as try-scorer Harding, was outstanding. The Blues suffered a late scare when Ben Lewitt, on for Chris Goodman, was shown the yellow card almost 30 seconds after coming on. He was penalised for a high tackle on Black’s winger Chris Morgan.

From the following phases Neath won a penalty which was kicked by Langden that set up a nervy ending for the Blues. However they held out for a winning start to their Welsh tour.

Blues starting XV: Pritchard (c), Taylor (Thrower 40) Bedford, Vass, Dodge, Dorrian, Walshe (Chudley 65), Walsh (Clark 49), Locke, Seal, Howard, Tomes (Rae 49) Gillanders, Harding, Goodman (Lewitt 75)

Replacements: Boot, Bale,

Scorers:

Try: Harding 10

Con: Pritchard 11

Pen: Pritchard 1, 59

Referee: David Bodily

Attendance: 848

MATCH REPORT V LONDON WELSH

Bedford Blues got back to winning ways in the British and Irish Cup with a dominant second half performance against London Welsh.

Two tries from Handre Schmidt, scores from Will Fraser and Will Chudley, plus 21 points from captain James Pritchard and a drop goal from Jake Sharp confirmed a resounding victory.

However, for much of the first half the Blues never looked as comfortable as the score suggests.

The first 30 minutes was a largely scrappy affair and Bedford looked like a side who were suffering in confidence following their tough start to 2011.

Blues had been lucky not to be six points down when the Exiles’ Waisea Luveniyali missed two penalties early on.

But they went behind after they gifted London Welsh an early converted try. Dominic Shabbo intercepted Sharp’s scrum kick and raced through to dot down unchallenged.

The handling errors that were so prevalent in last week’s 32-0 defeat at Worcester could be seen in the early parts of the half.

Chudley was one man who came out of the performance last week with some credit and it was his quick thinking that helped the Blues get on the scoreboard, when Fraser crashed across the whitewash.

The scrum half took a quick tap penalty and created a two phase move with Laurence Ovens, the main instigator, before Sharp offloaded to the flanker as he darted over the line.

The score livened up the game, and gave the Blues players the confidence that had been lacking.

Along with a couple of late tackles on Edd Thrower and Chudley it also fired up the crowd who had been unusually quiet until then.

Despite Exiles dominating the latter stages of the half, it was the Blues who went in at the interval with the lead, after being gifted a converted try themselves.

Schmidt ran 70 metres to dive elegantly under the posts, after picking up a fumble from Shabbo after a poor pass dropped short from former Blues star Soane Tonga’uiha’s brother Hudon.

Going down the slope in the second period Bedford put on a performance that their fans have come to expect this season.

Director of rugby Mike Rayer has often spoken about managing the scoreboard in winning positions, and a fine kicking display from Pritchard allowed the Blues to pull away. He also showed good captaincy to stop Chudley from taking quick penalties on a few occasions in order to take the points.

Sharp, this week picked for England Under-20s, showed a real touch of class to keep up the point- scoring momentum, receiving the ball just outside the 22 to kick a drop goal, before Pritchard converted another two penalties to further increase the lead. It looked all over for the Exiles when William Johnson was sent to the bin for repeated infringements in the ruck but, despite being a man down, Welsh were able to get across the whitewash. Luveniyali scored and converted his own try after breaking through the Blues’ defence, after a number of phases of pressure.

However the hosts hit back immediately with a massive Pritchard penalty.

They then sealed the win through another converted try, when the cunning and quick thinking Chudley picked up the ball from the scrum and ran unopposed down the wing to dot down under the posts.

Blues picked up a bonus point in the dying moments of the game with their final converted try, and the second of the afternoon for Schmidt. The South African wing danced past two Exiles and chipped the last man to race down and plant the ball over the line, just outrunning the chasing Ernist Claassens.

The win puts them in good stead in the competition, knowing that if they can win both games next week in Wales, they will have one foot in the quarter finals.

Blues starting XV: Thrower, Schmidt, Burke (Dorrian 63), Bedford (Vass 72), Pritchard (c), Sharp, Chudley (Walshe 78), Ovens, Clark (Richmond 70), Boot (Seal 54), Tupai, Tomes (Lewitt 57), Rae, Fraser (Goodman 68) Wray

Referee: Terry Hall

Attendance: 2,416

MATCH REPORT V WORCESTER

Bedford Blues were hammered by a rampant Worcester, in an encounter that the away side will hope to forget.

For team manager Rob Crowle, the defeat highlighted how good a side the former Premiership outfit are.

With Bedford coming off the back of a disappointing defeat against Cornish Pirates last weekend, a the topof- the-table clash with Warriors was always going to be tough, but neither team could have expected it to have been so one-sided with Blues unable to score a single point for the first time in four years when they lost 31-0 at Leeds in 2007.

Instead, the travelling support had to endure two tries from Warriors winger Marcel Garvey, along with scores from Tom Arscott and Aleki Lutui as well as 12 points from Andy Goode.

It was only Blues’ third away defeat of the season, but the first in which they have well and truly been outclassed.

And Crowel thinks that Bedford shot themselves in the foot with the mistakes they made, that were ultimately caused by Worcester’s quality, in particular Goode.

“I don’t think we were allowed to play,” said Crowle.

“We were up against a very good side, which made us make a lot of unforced errors. They are a very good outfit and they deserved their win and we’ve no complaints with the result.

“When you are put under that amount of pressure some players revert to type and forget the things they have been coached during the week in training.

“It wasn’t for the want of trying, but we were up against a very good side, and very good outside half in Andy Goode, who kicked the corners and kept under pressure. He put his foot on our throat and kept it there.” However the coach did praise the players for their effort and felt that luck wasn’t on their side in the game.

Crowle added: “Some of the boys were very brave, I thought Sacha Harding’s yellow card was very unlucky but that’s the way things are sometimes.”

The Blues had initially come out strong in the first few minutes, but the Warriors pack was far too dominant and collapsed only inches away from the line after a mauling line-out. The ball was eventually recycled out to Garvey who finished neatly in the corner.

Surprisingly Goode missed the extras, although this was to be the only let off, four minutes in, from the former England fly-half.

Bedford’s best chance of the quarter came when their only stand-out player, Will Chudley, broke quickly from a penalty. The subsequent move between, Sacha Harding, Brendan Burke, Ian Vass and James Pritchard put Handre Schmidt through to finish, only for the referee to determine that Vass’ pass had been played forward.

The Warriors were able to manage the scoreboard, and extended their lead through a Goode penalty after, Tom Arscott broke through the Blues defence, and Pritchard didn’t release his man when on the ground, 20 metres out.

The pressure on the Bedford defence was non-stop through the first half, but the quality of the Warriors and Garvey’s second try demonstrated the difference between first and second place in the Championship.

A defence splitting pass by Goode found Garvey who weaved his way through the Blues backs magnificently. Goode made no mistake with the conversion.

The miserable half was compounded when Harding, was sent, somewhat harshly, to the bin for continuous infringements in the ruck and Warriors scored a converted try from the resulting penalty.

Goode was again the orchestrator in Worcester’s third score of the day with a fine pass out wide, to Alex Crockett who offloaded to Arscott to dotted down.

The second half didn’t start any better for Mike Rayer’s side, as Warriors increased their lead with another converted try. Lutui was the man to emerge with the ball after several forward rucks forced their way over the Blues whitewash.

Warriors then had a man of their own in the bin, as Neil Best went off just as Harding returned, but even with 14 men they outclassed Bedford. The final points of the day were a testament to the quality in the Warriors team when Goode kicked a mammoth penalty from 45 metres out.

Throughout the game the Blues couldn’t click in their attacking play and were often forced into making errors by Worcester. They were also guilty of throwing away position when in attacking positions and particularly guilty of making several forward passes.

A kick out of the Worcester half was dropped by Schmidt whilst he was under no pressure, and that seemed to encompass Bedford’s afternoon.

A late break from Myles Dorrian and Edd Thrower, in which the latter was forced into touch was all the rugby the Blues fans could enjoy, as their team desperately tried to get something on the scoreboard.

Both Burke and Schmidt had fantastic runs late on, but were brought down well into the Warriors half, and given that they were penned into their own territory for much of the game, it was a surprise they made it so far.

The loudest cheer of the day came when the tannoy announced the Cornish Pirates had lost 19-18 at Rotherham, meaning that Bedford remain second in the league, going into the welcome distraction of two upcoming games against Neath and Swansea in the British and Irish Cup.

BLUES: Pritchard (c) (Thrower 56), Schmidt, Burke, Vass (Bedford 66), Taylor, Dorrian (Walshe 69), Chudley, Walsh (Ovens 56), Richmond (Clark 56), Boulton, Howard, Tomes (Rae 49), Gillanders (Tupai 60), Harding, Wray

REFEREE: Sean Davey

ATTENDANCE: 6,398

MATCH REPORT V CORNISH PIRATES

Cornish Pirates ended Bedford Blues’ nine game unbeaten run with a dominant display in the south west to give the away fans a long and miserable trip home.

 

Despite a strong performance from captain James Pritchard who scored all the Blues’ points, the team was outplayed by a determined Pirates side. Yellow cards for Sam Walsh and Edd Thrower did not help their cause.

 

The early stage of the game saw both sides miss penalties as they felt each other out. But after the early niceties the half belonged to the Cornish side.

 

Two tries in the first half which also saw Blues prop Same Walsh binned for tripping gave the home side the advantage that Bedford never really recovered from. They did manage a five minute performance closed the gap to 17-13 at the break. The first Pirates try came after fly-half Jonny Bentley kicked a quality cross field ball that evaded Handre Schmidt. Wes Davies was all alone to touch down under the posts, with Rob Cook taking the extras.

 

Blues were not coping with their opposition in the early stages of the match although they did get their first points of the game when Pritchard scored a penalty.

 

Things weren’t made any easier when Sam Walsh was sent to the bin for attempting to trip a Pirates player.

 

With a man down in the scrum, the Blues couldn’t match their opponents and were penalised to allow Cook to convert the penalty to increase their lead.

 

They then added to the score with their second try as Bentley drove over the line, with Cook converting. The Blues had been hanging on up until that moment, but the Pirates had taken full advantage of Blues being a man down to go 17-3 up.

 

However the Blues made a comeback at the end of the half through their captain Pritchard. He first kicked a late penalty which was then followed up with a converted try. Brendan Burke found a gap in pirates back line before passing to the Canadian international who finished well.

 

The second period was an even affair, with neither team taking control of the game. The Blues were far more competitive, until Cook kicked two goals in quick succession to increase the home sides lead.

With Pirates sensing victory over their second placed rivals, Bedford did not help themselves with some casual, error strewn play. Edd Thrower, on as a replacement was sent to the bin for deliberate knock on when a Cornish try looked a dead cert.

 

With the game being played out in midfield, the Pirates showed why they had the best defence in the league, as they complete shut out the Bedford attack. As the rain came down at Mennaye Field, the ball became slippery and both sides suffered as a result. As the clock ticked down the blues never looked like getting back into the match. Mike Rayer will hope to see a better all-round performance next week when his side take on league leaders Worcester.

 

Pritchard (c), Schmidt (Thrower), Burke, Vass, Dodge, Dorrian, Chudley, Walsh, Richmond (Clark), Seal (Boulton), Howard, Rae (Tomes), Gillanders, Harding, Tupai

 

MATCH REPORT V BRISTOL

Bedford Blues gave their fans a late Christmas present in an entertaining win over Bristol Rugby at Goldington Road.

The game had everything - five tries, three sin-binnings, and some breathe-taking rugby, sprinkled with errors which served up a post-festive treat. Two tries from Handre Schmidt, a late comer to the starting line-up, along with scores from Sacha Harding and Alex Rae gave Blues the win.

After starting slow captain James Pritchard also put in a good performance, with the ball in hand and with the boot, kicking 19 points. 

However in the opening moments it was Bristol who looked fired up, hoping to avenge the defeat earlier in the season at the Memorial Ground.

 

The normally resolute Blues were behind within two minutes. Having lost the ball from their own line-out on the half way line, Bristol played the ball wide in four phases, before Mako Vunipola drove over from a ruck with Nicky Little taking the extras.

 

But after that earlier score, the side from the south west never looked like taking the initiative and, if not for Fijian international Little, who kicked 100 per cent of his goal attempts, Bristol would not have been in touch for the majority of the match.

 

The Blues kept up the pressure on their opponents and eventually crossed the whitewash themselves when Harding crashed through the Bristol line. But after Pritchard missed the conversion the Blues then found themselves eight points behind with 15 minutes gone, when Little kicked a second penalty for Bristol after Pritchard was penalised.

 

After a spell of midfield dominance the hosts were able to get their second score and Schmidt’s first, with Pritchard kicking the extras. After Mike Howard smashed his way through the Bristol back line, a smart offload to the South African set him up for the simple finish. However, Bristol again extended their lead through a Little penalty.

 

Pritchard kicked his first penalty of the day to keep the sides separated by the single point, with Bedford wanting to keep in touching distance of their opponents. So often this season Bedford have won games from losing positions with ten minutes play of dominance, and they had to wait for that time to come in the second part of the match.

 

If the crowd were cold by the near freezing temperatures they were certainly entertained by some of the rugby on show. Myles Dorrian and Brendan Burke combined magnificently between each other, in a way that deserved a score. Instead, the kick forward was a little too long for the chasing Pritchard.

 

Games are so often decided by moments of madness and, having been one of Bristol’s best players, Little, who had at half time had scored 11 of his team's points, was sent to the bin for a needless infringement in the ruck, only moments after his side's mounting pressure nearly resulted in a score. 

 

With Bristol’s lead man off the pitch, Pritchard, who had come ever more into the game, kicked two late penalty goals to give the Blues the lead at the interval.

 

Going down the slope at the start the next period, Blues looked to take advantage of the extra man. It took less than two minutes for Rae to crash over the line. After a sweeping move between Will Chudley and Burke, the second row found himself in the winger's position to dive over. 

 

The Blues should have had more but both Gregor Gillanders and Phil Boulton were stopped short.

 

Just as Little was coming back on Bristol were back down to 14 men. Pritchard, chipped the ball over two Bristol men and was clean through before he was taken out by Vunipola, who referee Paul Knowles had no hesitation in sending to the bin.

 

From the resulting penalty, Schmidt was able to get his second score of the afternoon after being played in by Dorrian, with the extras taken.

Mike Rayer’s side had had the telling period of dominance and it left them clear of the day’s opponents. Bristol offered almost nothing in return, but with their talisman Little back on the pitch they were able to kick two penalties to reduce the arrears, before Pritchard extended it again with a kick of his own.

 

In the dying moments of the match, Blues replacement Sean Tomes was sent to the bin for an infringement in the ruck, but with Little off the pitch, Bristol opted for a line-out which only ended with them being penalised.

 

Pritchard then polished off his performance with a final penalty kick to give the Blues a 39-22 win. 

 

Blues Starting XV: Pritchard (c), Schmidt, Burke, Vass, Dodge, Dorrian, Chudley, Walsh (Ovens 65), Richmond, Boulton (Seal 52), Howard (Tomes 65), Rae, Gillanders, Harding, Tupai (Wray 62)

Not used: Clark, Walshe, Bedford.

 

Attendance: 4150

MATCH REPORT V MOSELEY

Sureshot James Pritchard kicked Bedford to a deserved Championship victory on a bizarre evening at Billesley Common.

 

The Canadian international defied a feisty display from the hosts with six goals from seven attempts as Blues moved to within two points of leaders Worcester.

 

But the full back also had to overcome the strugglers’ intermittent floodlights that failed eight times and ultimately forced referee Rowan Kitt to abandon the match five minutes early.

 

Not that anyone was too sorry on a cold evening that generated little by way of heat or light and ended with Blues playing as poorly as their limited hosts.

 

Mike Rayer’s men deserved their win, though, if not for their dominant scrum then for a bright opening quarter in which they monopolised possession and territory despite playing up the slope.

 

Indeed Blues were so superior for most of the first half the one surprise was that only Nick Walshe managed to find his way across the home line.

 

After all the visitors had a string of chances, both in the set-pieces and loose, that might have put them out of sight by half time.

 

The first came in the opening exchanges when Blues were unable to convert a five metre scrum into anything tangible.

 

Eventually they were counter-rucked off their own ball and they had to wait until the tenth minute to set the scoreboard ticking.

Predictably it was the metronomic Pritchard who did that. The Australian-born three quarter bagged 15 points on his last appearance at this venue and was soon back in the groove when Terry Sigley incurred the wrath of the referee for the first of several times.

 

The Mose front row never found a solution to the problems they were having with the power of props Dan Seal and Sam Walsh.

 

However, the boot of their full back Ollie Thomas was working well and two sloppy infringements allowed the Birmingham side to take a 6-3 lead.

 

Pritchard levelled on the half hour and converted Walshe’s score just before half time.

 

Paul Tupai scooped up a loose ball near the home line and although the abrasive back rower was downed, there was plenty of space for Walshe to dummy and dart over from a ruck.

 

After the restart Pritchard added to Blues’ 13-6 lead with 42nd and 46th minute penalties but three in reply from Thomas made it 19-15.

 

By that time Blues were also haemorrhaging infringements and playing without any rhythm as Moseley wrestled control of the match.

 

So it was a considerable relief when Pritchard took his side a score clear with 15 minutes to go.

 

And it was even more relief when Mr Kitt decided he - and we - had seen enough as the lights went out on an entirely forgettable evening.

 

BEDFORD: Pritchard; Dodge, Burke (Bedford 46), Vass, Taylor; Dorrian, Walshe (Chudley 72); Walsh, Richmond (Clark 64), Seal, Howard, Rae (Tomes 64), Gillanders, Harding, Tupai. Replacements: Boulton, Boot, Schmidt 

MATCH REPORT V ULSTER RAVENS

A spectacular second half performance in the British and Irish Cup saw Bedford Blues brush aside the Ulster Ravens in a thrilling encounter at Goldington Road.

A superb kicking performance from Caption James Pritchard and tries from Ollie Dodge, Will Chudley and Joe Clark, gave the side a 36-22 win despite being eleven points behind the Irish club at half time.

 

Following a two week break, it was understandable that the Blues were error prone early on, often making handling errors and being turned over. But in the early stages neither side could get into a decent rhythm of play.

However it was the Goldington Road outfit that were to get on board first, when Pritchard converted two early penalties.

The Canadian international, back for his first game after a European tour, was solid with the boot throughout scoring a total of 21 points.

The Ulstermen were not to found wanting, after going behind and the subsequent pressure on the Blues back line told. They toiled in Blues territory, often to no avail, coming close to the whitewash after a chip kick was defended well by Brendan Burke.

However Patrick Jackson was able to get the Irish team’s first points on the board from a penalty, but his team would have expected a try for their hard work in the Blues half.

And it wasn’t long after that they got the scores that they deserved with two similar tries in quick succession.

The normally resolute Bedford looked tired and jaded, despite having the week off, as they struggled with the Ulster pack. After mauling well from a line-out the Ravens out muscled the Bedford defence, and hooker Niall Annett emerged with the ball for the first try.

 

The Irish men got their second score of the day after a number of phases near the blues try line. Eventually Scott Lavella made up the final metre to dot down. Jackson converted both efforts.

The Blues defence may have not been performing to their usual high standards, but the character in the team were certainly prevalent towards the end of the half as they tried to get across the line for the first time in the afternoon, coming close several times, before Laurence Ovens knocked on the relieve the pressure on the Belfast team.

Sean Tomes, was sin binned late in the half after repeatedly fouling in the ruck, which only served to complete a miserable half for the Blues.

Last year the Blues travelled to Belfast in the same competition only to lose 29-3. On that day most of damage was done in the first half and the Blues were determined grind out a result in the second period.

Martin Hynes and Nick Walshe, who were taking charge of team affairs, would not have been pleased with the first forty minutes but after a straight talking dressing room conversation, they team emerges fired up for the second half. Pritchard ran down the line only to be stopped with inches to go. In the ensuing ruck Tommy Seymour was sent to the bin and Pritchard was able to reduce the deficit with the resulting penalty.

Handre Schmidt, who had been anonymous in the first period, announced himself with a fantastic run moments later which resulted in another penalty for Pritchard to kick between the posts.

With the Ulstermen in their sights the Blues were looking dangerous as they searched for a try of their own. Tom Bedford was halted within touching distance of the line having been put through by Will Fraser. The Blues did win a penalty, which was kicked over effortlessly by Pritchard, from the resulting pressure.

Eventually the home side were rewarded for their second half performance with the tries they had been looking for.

 

Ollie Dodge broke through the stubborn Belfast defence after being put through by Jake Sharp for the first, before the floodgates opened. The Blues got the second when scrum half Chudley dotted down after picking up ball from the back of the ruck.

Sharp played his part in the Blues third score as he weaved through the Ravens defence before the ball was recycled out to replacement hooker Joe Clark to cross the whitewash. Pritchard converted all three to keep his 100 per cent record for the afternoon.

Ulster did get one back on the score when Johnny Shiels was found out wide all alone to dive over, but the Blues following were more aggrieved that a deliberate stamp on fan favourite Paul Tupai by the Ravens captain Thomas Anderson was left unpunished.

The Blues had other opportunities to increase the score, however the team, and the management will be pleased that the way they came back from a lacklustre first half performance to produce a deserved victory.

Blues starting XV: 

Pritchard (c), Schmidt, Burke (Dodge 49), Bedford, Taylor, Sharp (Walshe, 76), Chudley (Veenendaal 66), Ovens, Locke (Clark 56), Boulton (Boot 56), Tomes (Howard 49), Rae, Gillanders, Fraser, Goodman (Tupai 66)

MATCH REPORT V DONCASTER

Bedford Blues managed to grind out a hard fought win against Doncaster Knights, on a freezing evening at Goldington Road.

Tries from Handre Schmidt, Will Chudley, Brenden Burke, and Gregor Gillanders, gave Bedford a 35-7 win over their Yorkshire opponents.

 

Myles Dorrian also played his part with his boot in the absence of regular kicker James Pritchard, with 15 points. He got the first points of the day from an earlier penalty.

 

But it was Bedford’s South African representatives, Daryl Veenendaal and Schmidt, buoyed by their nation’s win over England earlier in the day, who were integral to the first try of the match After Ian Vass probed forward from a maul, Veenendaal picked up the ball and found a gap in the Knights’ defence, before offloading to in-form winger Schmidt, who doted down. Dorrian kicked the extras.

 

Doncaster were not disheartened by conceding early on and enjoyed spells of dangerous possession, whilst repelling Blues counter-attacks. The Blues did have Sacha Harding to thank for a last ditch tackle on Andy Wright which prevented a certain try.

 

Donny did get on the scoreboard somewhat controversially when Blues conceded a penalty try for continuous infringements in the scrum, with Tristan Roberts converting.

 

The score certainly gave the Knights the momentum but it was Blues who looked to score again. The crowd were aggrieved with the referee’s previous decisions, and when he awarded the Blues a penalty late in the half the ironic cheers were louder than when Dorrian kicked through posts.

 

It was unsurprising then, that when a penalty was awarded to Donny just moments later, the pantomime crowd booed and hissed, despite Roberts missing from 40 metres.

 

Bedford’s director of rugby Mike Rayer had singled out Doncaster’s big pack before and the match and the Blues really struggled in the scrum, nearly conceing a second penalty try before the first half was out. Fortunately they held strong to lead at the break.

 

They came for the second period all guns blazing, looking to put some breathing space in the score. A deft Dorrian kick nearly put Duncan Taylor in at the corner, before the ball was recycled out to the other side where Schmidt was brought down inches short.

 

The Blues were let off moments later when Donny winger Matt Williams offloaded the ball out of play when he was in danger of counter-attacking, but Dorrian’s excellent day with the boot continued as he kicked another penalty soon after.

 

The Goldington Road outfit where threatening to cross the whitewash from their patented attacking rugby but on several occasions, handling errors deep into Knights territory cost them.

 

That said, the cold clearly affected both teams, and Doncaster were also guilty of making errors on the ball, and Blues twice looked to make the most of it through Schmidt and Gregor Gillanders.

 

Eventually the Blues scored the converted try their second half performance warranted when Harding smashed his way through the Knights’ defence before offloading to replacement Will Chudley to cross the whitewash.

 

The try opened up the game, as Doncaster looked to make up the deficit with a score of their own. Both Williams and Lewis Thiede made probing runs into the Blues’ half only to be stopped by Schmidt and Dan Richmond respectively.

 

Doncaster were lucky not to have a man down when Lawrie struck Schmidt in the ruck. But even with 15 men they couldn’t stop the Blues getting their third of the day. Brendan Burke crossed the line after a darting run on the left wing. Dorrian missed his only kick of the afternoon when his conversion hit the post.

Burke was involved in the Blues’ final score only moments later when another arrowing run lead to the ball ending up with Gillanders, after being played in by Sean Tomes. Gillanders, still had work to do but was able to beat his man and dive over the line. Dorrian converted to make up for his earlier miss. Jake Sharp just missed a drop goal attempt late on, but an excellent team performance by the Blues in the second half make gave them a much deserved win.

 

BLUES: Burke, Schmidt, Bedford, Vass (Sharp 73), Taylor, Dorrian, Veenendaal (Chudley 50), Walsh (Ovens 54), Richmond (C) (Locke 79), Seal (Boulton 54), Howard (Tupai 64), Rae (Tomes 54), Gillanders, Harding, Goodman

 

Referee: Rob Debney

 

Attendance: 1,985

MATCH REPORT V ESHER

Bedford Blues scored eight tries in the demolition of Esher at Molesey Road yesterday to keep their rampant form in The Championship going.

Handre Schmidt scored a hat-trick and helped set up two efforts for Duncan Taylor, whilst Chris Goodman, Will Fraser and Brendan Burke all added to the 53-10 rout.

After a recent poor run of results, Esher came out of the blocks quickest, but the Blues were clearly in a mood to entertain and as Esher faded away, they were first on the scoreboard with two Taylor tries. Schmidt broke from a scrum on the Esher 22, and made up the ground in a determined fashion. He was stopped short of the line but the ball was recycled out wide by Veenendaal for Taylor to dot down.

Confidence was flowing through the team and Schmidt, Tupai and Dorrian were all involved in the break forward for the second. Eventually, the Esher defence was drawn in and Taylor was found alone on the wing for the second time of the afternoon, and Dorrian was able to kick the extras having earlier missed.

Dorrian’s kicking was far more reliable than in previous weeks, contributing 11 points to the score.

Esher responded to the two earlier tries with an attempted drop goal from Sam Ulph, who later was able to give them their first points of the afternoon with a converted penalty.

Mike Rayer’s side suffered a scare towards the end of the half, when Esher broke forward, and looked to have crossed the whitewash, but the ball was held up by the resolute Blues defence.

However this did give Esher some confidence in the final moments of the half, and after kicking a penalty into touch, the Surrey club forced their way over the line, with Karl Rudzki emerging with the ball and Ulph adding the extras.

But Bedford, having been the dominant force through most of the match were to have the final score in the half, when Chris Goodman rammed his way over the line for a converted try after a late scrum in the Esher 22.  

It took three minutes for Blues to add to their lead after the break, when Schmidt got his first of three tries that his first half performance warranted. Blues had pressured from the off, with Dorrian forcing his way through a big hit before offloading to the winger who was able to dot down.

Whatever Rayer said to his players in the dressing room clearly got them going as they were rampant and in a try scoring mood.

Will Fraser got over the whitewash, after being played in by Taylor whilst Schmidt got his second after a flowing move left to right allowed him to dance around the last two Esher men to dive over the line.

The impressive rugby was soured after a late hit on Brendan Burke, by Michael Blakeburn, which the referee did little about, but could and probably should have resulted in some punishment.

However the Blues responded in the right way, on the pitch with Schmidt getting on score sheet for his hat-trick. It came after another flowing move ended up with him receiving the ball on the wing to dive down in the corner.

With the Blues looking to get over the 50 point mark, Esher tried to stage a fight back with a period of possession and in Blues territory. Bedford were putting bodies on the line and when Dan Seal was sin binned for an infringement in the ruck, Esher took their chance when Shaun Wrenwick barged his way over the line.  

But once again it was the Blues who would be last to score when Tupai broke through the Esher line. For a time it looked as if the forward would cross the line himself, but he offloaded to Burke who put the ball down under the posts. Replacement, Jake Sharp, converted the extras.

Blues Scorers:
Try: Taylor 6,11 Goodman, 40 Schmidt 44,56,63 Fraser,48, Burke 80
Con: Dorrian,(4) Sharp (1)
Pen: Dorrian, 20

Blues Starting XV: Burke, Schmidt, Dodge (Vass 41), Bedford, Taylor, Dorrian (Sharp 60), Veenendaal (Chudley 65), Ovens (Boulton 55), Locke (Richmond 46), Seal, Tupai, Tomes (Rae 65), Gillanders, Fraser, Goodman (c) (Howard 46)

 

MATCH REPORT V ROTHERHAM

Bedford Blues were able to banish any bad memories of their early season loss to Rotherham after routing them at Goldington Road on the eve of Remembrance Sunday.

Back in September a late Juan Pablo Socino converted try gave the Blues their only away defeat of the season but a hat-trick from full-back Edd Thrower, as well as tries from Ollie Dodge, Dan Richmond, and Duncan Taylor sealed a 37-10 bonus point win.

The Blues started the game in the perfect way to avenge their defeat earlier in the season, with two quick tries in the first seven minutes by Dodge and Richmond gave them the perfect start.

However, it looked at first that the Titans would start the game the same way they ended the previous fixture, but Juan Pablo Socino’s kick fell just short of the posts.    From the counter-attack, instigated by Ian Vass, and Will Chudley, the ball found its way to Dodge who dotted down in the Blues first attack of the clash.

Only three minutes later, former captain Richmond forced his way over the whitewash, but Myles Dorrian missed the extras on both occasions.

The Argentine, Socino, the hero of Clifton Lane in September, was the real villain of Goldington Road for Rotherham. Even though he was able to get three points back after a 35-metre penalty, he had a real part to play in the Blues third score of the day.

His audacious drop goal attempt from over 50 metres landed into the arms of Edd Thrower, who then counter-attacked with Chudley and Sacha Harding.  The ball was offloaded back to the full-back who finished the move in the corner.  Dorrian missed his third attempt to convert, but the Goldington Road outfit were well and truly asserting their dominance in the match.  

Strong in defence and playing some attractive counter-attacking rugby, the fans inside Goldington Road were being treated to an autumn spectacle to rival the entertainment of the Test matches earlier in the day.

Rayer’s side were attacking with intent and gave nothing to Rotherham.  Although scrappy at times, with several handling errors, the determination of the side was epitomised by the moustached Vass, winning a magnificent turnover, and the power and force of Paul Tupai, with a point to prove after he was suspended the last time these two sides met.

Deep into added time, the Blues demonstrated the reason why they have the best defence in the league when Rotherham exerted their only moments of real pressure.  Despite being a man down after Brenden Burke was sent to bin for an infringement in the ruck, they stood strong to end the 12 points ahead.

Playing down the slope at Goldington Road, the Blues started the second period with Dorrian’s only points of the evening, but it was Rotherham was who dotted down first in the half.  Peter Swatkins broke with the ball for 30 metres before offloading to Jonny Hepworth who crossed the line for the first time in Titans colours.  They very nearly had a second a minute later, but Swatkins knocked on with only metres to go.

The Blues battled on against a resilient Titans back line that had risen in confidence after their try, but as time went on, Bedford pressured in all the right areas. Eventually they were able to extend their lead.   Hepworth was sent to the bin and the extra man advantage paid off when Thrower was able to get over the whitewash for the second time of the evening.

With the wind in their sails, every memory of Clifton Lane was banished with two late touch downs.  The first saw replacement Tom Bedford drive through the Titans back line, before the ball was recycled out wide to Duncan Taylor to touch down. Thrower added the extras after taking over kicking duties from Dorrian.

Thrower then ended the rout in added time with his hat-trick, after receiving the ball all on his own out wide.  He added his own extras to end the game and take revenge on Yorkshire outfit whilst continuing the sides rich vein in form.

Blues starting XV: Thrower, Dodge, Burke, Vass (Bedford 49), Taylor, Dorrian, (N Walshe 77) Chudley (Veenendaal 64) S Walsh, Richmond (c) (Locke 77), Boulton (Seal 49), Tupai (Howard 61), Rae (Tomes 80), Gillanders, Harding, Goodman.

Bedford Scorers: Tries: Dodge, 4, Richmond, 7. Thrower, 16, 66, 80, Taylor, 73 Conversion: Thrower, 73, 80 Penalties: Dorrian, 43     Referee: Chris White 

 

Attendance: 2075  

MATCH REPORT V BEES

DEADLY Duncan Taylor disproved the Samson Effect with a hat-trick of tries on his comeback for victorious Bedford.

Minus his trademark dreadlocks the recently-shorn wing showed he had lost none of his powers with three of Blues¡¯ four scores as Mike Rayer¡¯s men continued their pursuit of Worcester at the top of the Championship.

 

But they were made to work hard for it by a feisty Bees outfit that posed serious questions during a topsy-turvy first half.

 

Bedford were grateful to Taylor¡¯s clinical finishing to keep them in the match during that period.

 

But by the time he grabbed his third three minutes from the end Blues were well in control and looking forward to next week¡¯s clash with Rotherham.

 

¡°We knew it would be a big challenge and they gave us that,¡± Taylor said. ¡°We are really happy to come away with five points.

¡°We basically had to front up and realise who we were playing against.

¡°They came out firing and we were still on the bus, we had tosharpen up and stick to the systems which we did in the second half.¡±

 

The result was made all the more sweet by the fact it was Taylor¡¯s first game back since breaking his collar bone.

 

During that time Ollie Dodge and James Short have done well on the wings, leaving Taylor with work to do to get back in the side.

 

¡°You feel pressure in every game. I just wanted to play as best as I can and try and get back into the team.

 

¡°All the boys have played so well it¡¯s really hard with all the competition.  It¡¯s good for us to have that competition, hopefully I can keep going.

 

¡°It was good to get out there again, it¡¯s hard watching from the sidelines. It¡¯s good to get a hat-trick, although I didn¡¯t have to do much for them.¡±

 

The hosts made the better start as they backed up Bedford near their own line and won a penalty when Sacha Harding held on. Mark Woodrow made it 3-0.

Taylor responded in the fifth minute after Alex Rae scooped up a loose ball near halfway.

 

Sharp poked a kick to the corner and the wing beat Tom Foden to the ball for 5-3.

 

Seconds later Bees replied with their first try as Blues were turned over in their 22 and Simon Hunt laid on for scrum half John Brake.

Almost immediately afterwards Blues were level after they reclaimed the restart and won a penalty for offside. Jake Sharp stroked over the penalty.

 

But the Solihull outfit would not lie down and on the quarter hour Woodrow landed his second penalty.

 

And the home lead became 18-8 when Mike Denbee scampered home from halfway and Woodrow converted.

 

On the half hour Taylor powered through two defenders, Sharp converted and then added two penalties to make it 21-18 at the interval.

 

Blues closed the game down in the second period as Thrower sniped over in the 45th minute.

 

But it was Taylor who has to have the last say as he took the full back¡¯s pass and skirted outside Hunt to mark his return to action.

BEES: Foden; Hunt (Tanumi 78), Binham (Barkley 40 (Winter 75)), Lawson, Culpin; Woodrow, Brake (Petty 67); Dugard, McMillan, Tau (Sperandio 78); Connolly, Griffiths, Preece, Denbee, Bentall (Clayton 61). Replacement: Reid

BEDFORD: Thrower; Schmidt, Burke, Vass (Bedford 64), Taylor; Sharp (Dorrian 69), Chudley (Veenendaal 78); Ovens (Walsh 58), Locke (Richmond 64), Boulton, Howard (Tupai 64), Tomes (Gillanders 69), Rae, Harding, Goodman.

Referee: Michael Tutty

MATCH REPORT V LONDON WELSH

The spotlights flooded down onto Goldington Road on Friday night as the Sky cameras came to see Bedford Blues survive a late London Welsh revival in the first televised clash of the season.

Sky clearly rated both teams when they picked this game and heading into the game the Blues were sitting in third place in the league, just three points behind the evening¡¯s opponents.

Mike Rayer made seven changes to the team that broke their Meadow Lane hoodoo last week in Nottingham, with Ollie Dodge moving to the wing, Tom Bedford replacing him at inside centre and Darryl Veenendaal returning at scrum half. Up front there are straight swaps with Dan Seal, Alex Rae, Sacha Harding and Jackson Wray all coming in for Phil Boulton, Sean Tomes, Will Fraser and Chris Goodman.

With cameras perhaps on the players¡¯ minds, the first few minutes were a nervy affair. It wasn¡¯t until Myles Dorrian and James Pritchard combined to break forward 40 metres that any team took control. From the following play a Veenendaal kick was deliberately knocked on by a Welsh forward, and Pritchard stepped up to take his first points of the evening.

This gave the Blues the confidence to play the ball in hand and they started to dominate play. When four Welsh players were penalised again for being offside, Pritchard was all too happy to make it 6-0 with nine minutes on the clock.

However the Blues made a mistake in the midfield soon after and were turned over when Veenendaal took a hit. Dodge was able to make a big tackle on the wing on the half way line to prevent the Exiles going any further.

Soon after, Welsh had drawn back three points, when Aled Thomas kicked over a penalty after Harding was penalised for not rolling away.

Ian Vass was eager to impress with the boot, trying to chip players in on the wing, the first early on went astray, whilst his second to Dodge twenty minutes in was too far for him to chase.

The best spell of match happened when Vass was on call again to make a last ditch tackle on a Welsh player when he was the last man, and from the counter attack Dorrian made up fifty metres before being taken down.

Blues were the closest to scoring again, when Dodge broke down the wing and laid off to Harding, whose pass back was intercepted by Simon Whatling five metres out.

After that all the play belonged to the Exiles, who came at the Blues for a number of phases, but their defence stood strong.

For the remainder of the half Bedford couldn¡¯t find a way out of their 22. If it wasn¡¯t for Jackson Wray the Blues would have gone behind on 35 minutes when he put Errie Claassens into touch with the whitewash in his sights.

On the stroke of half time, Welsh¡¯s Nick Runciman did manage to dot down only for the referee to rule it out for the slightest of forward passes. He brought it back for an earlier penalty and Thomas brought the scores level from under the posts.

At the start of the second period, Blues were too eager to kick from deep, when they should have had more confidence in their play by hand. But they should have been ahead ten minutes into the half after Pritchard missed a penalty from 35 metres.

It was only two minutes later that they were finally able to get over the whitewash, when Veenendaal was able to dive over the line after Sam Walsh came up just short when breaking through the defence with Mike Howard. Pritchard had to wait several minutes while two Exiles received treatment before slotting the extras.

With 20 minutes left Pritchard was able to extend the lead after another penalty. Welsh¡¯s Epi Taione was lucky not to go in the bin when he grappled Dan Seal at the neck, but the Blues didn¡¯t mind as again Pritchard was on hand to kick the points.

Welsh could have got the score closer four minutes later but Thomas¡¯ penalty kick hit the post.

Welsh were able to get themselves a try late on when replacement Marland Yarde was played in along the right wing, but Whatling missed the chance to move the scores even closer than 19-11.

It was squeaky bum time for Blues fans when former Harlequins and Exeter winger Josh Drauniniu added a second try deep, deep into stoppage time, but once again Whatling¡¯s boot let him down.

With a couple of minutes still on the clock, the Exiles were sniffing blood and back on the attack through Yarde, but the Blues respite came when the London Irish dual-registered player was brought down and failed to release. Dorrian gratefully kicked the ball out of play and Bedford celebrated a hard fought win.

Bedford Starting XV: Thrower, Dodge, Bedford, Vass, Pritchard (C), Dorrian, Veenendaal, Walsh, Clark, Seal, Howard, Rae, Gillanders, Harding, Wray

Replacements: Richmond, Boulton, Tomes, Goodman, Chudley, Walshe, Burke.

Scorers: Try: Veenendaal, 53 - Con: Pritchard, 54 - Pen: Pritchard, 2, 9, 61, 66

Referee: Llyr ApGeriant Roberts

Attendance: 3548

MATCH REPORT V NOTTINGHAM

Bedford Blues scored a hat-trick of tries as they finally broke their Meadow Lane hoodoo to bounce back from last week¡¯s heartbreaking defeat at home to Championship leaders Worcester Warriors.

The Blues had never won at the ground that Nottingham share with the oldest Football League club, Notts County but there was no drama in this East Midlands derby.

The Goldington Road outfit were only behind on the scoreboard once early in the first half, before they reversed the scores a minute later and never looked back.

Will Fraser, Sam Walsh and Brendan Burke all crossed the whitewash while captain James Pritchard booted everything that he was offered between the uprights.

In defence, as last week, Bedford were resolute, while in attack, they asked all the questions, finding the gaps and keeping the Green and Whites on the back foot. Only a late converted try for the hosts to end the contest will have disappointed Mike Rayer¡¯s men, but it was a small detail in the grand scheme of a fabulous display.

Rayer made a host of changes to the team that lost 28-18 against Worcester with Handre Schmidt, Ian Vass and Will Chudley starting in the backs in place of James Short, Tom Bedford and Darryl Veenendaal. There were four personnel changes in the forwards with Phil Boulton, Mike Howard, Will Fraser and Chris Goodman all starting and Dan Seal, Alex Rae, Sacha Harding and Jackson Wray making way.

Blues picked up where they left off against Worcester with a couple of early handing errors, but when made in the centre of field they were manageable. But another error inside their own 22 on ten minutes saw Blues punished for not releasing at a ruck. James Arlidge took the opportunity to kick the first points of the afternoon.

The lead was short lived as Edd Thrower collected a big up-and-under, quickly offloaded to Chudley who burst past the first line of Nottingham defence, drew in the last man and then fed in Fraser to cross under the posts. James Pritchard kicked the extras.

They came within yards of a second score soon after but the ball popped out of a ruck in the corner and the hosts were able to boot away to the halfway line.

With some decent territory out wide, Blues lost but then recovered the ball and were handed the advantage for an infringement at the ruck, so the ball was worked out to Thrower for a drop goal attempt. Sadly, it was always pulling left the moment it came off his boot, but it afforded his captain to kick for goal from the resulting penalty, which he calmly took on 21 minutes.

The hosts had a chance to reduce the arrears with a penalty of their own on the 22 after Bedford were penalised at the ruck, but Arlidge had an age to think about it after he placed the ball on the tee as team-mate Andy Savage was given extensive treatment. When he was eventually patched up, the fly half pulled his effort wide to leave a seven point gap in Blues¡¯ favour.

A drop goal attempt from Arlidge three minutes from the break was desperately off target and that, from Blues¡¯ point of view, was about the sum off Nottingham¡¯s first half when, on the rare occasion, they found themselves with the ball in dangerous territory.

Seconds before that, the Green and Whites¡¯ Jack Cobden broke three tackles and with Pritchard stranded only had to find David Jackson on the wing for a certain score, but his pass was wayward and bounced apologetically out of play.

All the attacking was coming from the Blues from the restart and twice the visitors broke tackles and made good yards, first through Pritchard and then out wide through Chudley. On this second break, Bedford bullied their way to Nottingham¡¯s try line but before the hosts were given a reprieve from the referee who saw blue hands in at the ruck.

And 15 minutes in Bedford¡¯s lead was reduced to four points when Arlidge was able to slot over with a long range penalty from just inside their half.

That lasted barely 90 seconds as Sam Walsh crashed over the whitewash and Pritchard slotted through the posts to widen the gap to 11 points.

Midway through the half Sean Tomes was sin-binned for some before and afters during a Nottingham maul as the big forward threw a punch at Ben Buxton during the drive and then took on Tom Youngs and Craig Hammond once the ball was moved out.

With a man down Bedford were denied a scoring opportunity when Chudley stole the ball inside his own territory and raced forward. A neat reverse pass played in Myles Dorrian and the Aussie quickly fed in Pritchard, who with a few yards on big Nottingham No.8 Alex Shaw was clearly the favourite in a foot race. Yet the referee somehow saw a forward pass in the offload that fed in the captain, despite being ten yards behind the ball and, crucially, the pass being perfectly legal.

Once back to full strength ¨C with Alex Rae on instead of Tomes retuning from his binning ¨C Blues broke, shifting the ball left to right with Brendan Burke applying the finishing touch. Pritchard maintained his 100 per cent record for the afternoon with another successful conversion.

Shaw reduced the arrears with a minute to go scoring a converted pushover try, but it was the last action of the game as Blues claimed a memorable win.

BEDFORD BLUES: 15.Thrower, 14.Schmidt, 13.Dodge, 12.Vass (22.Burke, 51), 11.Pritchard, 10.Dorrian, 9.Chudley, 1.Walsh, 2.Clark, 3.Boulton (17.Seal, 66), 4.Howard, 5.Tomes (18.Rae, 85), 6.Gillanders, 7.Fraser(19.Harding, 51), 8.Goodman

Replacements: 16.Locke 20.Walshe, 21.Sharp,

ATTENDANCE: 1,623

MATCH REPORT V WORCESTER

Bedford Blues were undone by the imperious Andy Goode who equalled the league record for drop goals in a match to edge out home skipper James Pritchard in a game of kicking one-up-manship.

 

Ultimately, an intercepted score from Marvel Garvey in the 80th minute put daylight between the division¡¯s top two sides and ensured Blues stayed second, but it was the Warriors¡¯ England international fly half that was the real difference as he left the field boasting a 100 per cent record with the boot.

These two teams last met at Goldington Road in 2003, back in the old National League Division One, when Worcester triumphed 31-20. Blues also lost out in a heavy 43-5 defeat at Siways in January of 2004 as Warriors went on to clinch promotion to the Premiership.

There were three changes to the pack from the side that beat Cornish Pirates 32-25 last week with Sam Walsh coming in at loosehead prop in place of Laurence Ovens, Sean Tomes in for Mike Howard in the second row and Sacha Harding returning from injury.

The number seven¡¯s first introduction back into the fray however was to concede a penalty 90 seconds in which Warriors¡¯ England international Andy Goode punted through the middle to the uprights.

 

But Blues¡¯ captain James Pritchard drew his men level by the fifth minute after referee Keith Lewis called an end to Worcester disrupting a third scrum in succession.

 

Worcester¡¯s fly half restored the advantage in the 11th from just inside the Blues¡¯ half following an infringement at a ruck.

Soon after and Harding broke free from the halfway line in the best move of the half. He offloaded to Gregor Gillanders, but the forward¡¯s legs couldn¡¯t carry him quick enough and Warriors regrouped to bring him down. Yet the visitors could only conceded a penalty for offside in the next phase and Pritchard couldn¡¯t miss from under the sticks to level at 6-6.

 

From the restart, Bedford survived a break as a number of blue shirts grappled Graham Kitchener to the ground two yards from their line after he¡¯d twisted through two tackles and darted to the line. Then, just when Bedford looked under the cosh, the ball broke loose and Harding was able to kick clear.

 

Pritchard missed the opportunity to put Blues ahead in the 23rd minute when a Worcester player failed to retreat behind Goode following a box kick out of a scrum. The skipper pulled that penalty effort low and wide but he atoned three minutes later after Neil Best had been caught offside for Warriors.

 

The scoreboard was soon level again though as Goode opted for a drop goal on the half hour mark, which like his previous kicks sailed perfectly central through the posts and highlighted why he is the Premiership¡¯s third most prolific points scorer.

 

Bedford had to play the final five minutes of the half with one less man after Tom Bedford was sin-binned for foul play after a needless charge at Goode when a penalty had already been awarded.

His indiscretion would have proved costly for Blues but for a sublime last ditch tackle from Pritchard to prevent Marcel Garvey from grounding the ball, when the winger looked odds on to score.

 

A similarly impressive stop from Harding, after Aleki Lutui had broken free of Blues¡¯ attentions, made sure Bedford went in all square at the interval, no doubt buoyant by a determined defensive display.

 

When Bedford returned to action four minutes into the second session he joined a Blues side 12-9 up after Pritchard converted a penalty in off the post.

 

And it very nearly got even better for the hosts as Darryl Veenendaal broke free and offloaded to Edd Thrower, but the position slipped with one man to bear and Worcester regrouped.

 

Alex Rae and Bedford held up Tevita Taumoepeau on the line as Warriors began to exert some pressure in front of Blues¡¯ try line.

 

But, while still defending heroically, the home team were living close to the edge and a knock-on from Jonny Arr saved their bacon soon after.

 

And faced with a stubborn wall of Blues players Warriors employed the services of Goode, to again successfully slot over a drop goal and level at 12-12, despite pressure from Gillanders to block.

Just after the hour it was the visiting fly half who came up trumps for his team to edge them in front after Bedford had pulled down a scrum.

 

But the nip and tuck nature of tussle saw that lead last four only three minutes as Pritchard converted a penalty after an infringement at the ruck.

 

Countless times in the second half Bedford¡¯s handling wasn¡¯t up to scratch and knock-ons forced scrums, and in turn penalties which Worcester¡¯s kicker was neither turning down nor missing. And so it proved on 67 minutes when Goode slotted to restore a three point Warriors¡¯ lead (18-15).

 

A late hit on Myles Dorrian, with two and a half minutes of time remaining, presented Pritchard with a kick to level from a tricky angle. He didn¡¯t flinch and the penalty should have seen them collect from the restart but Chris Goodman fumbled, the ball turned over and found its way to Goode who predictably dropped through the posts from the 22.

 

It then got worse as Warriors¡¯ winger Garvey intercepted a Jake Sharp pass to race through Bedford¡¯s half and score under the posts with Goode adding the extras.

BLUES: Thrower, Short, Dodge, Bedford (Sharp, 71), Pritchard (c), Dorrian, Veenendaal (Lock, 73), Walsh (Ovens, 52), Clark (Chudley, 73), Seal (Boulton, 52), Tomes (Howard, 55), Rae, Gillanders, Harding, Wray (Goodman, 61)

 

REFEREE: Keith Lewis

ATTENDANCE: 3,534

MATCH REPORT V PIRATES

Twenty-two points from captain James Pritchard along with tries from Ollie Dodge and Tom Bedford gave Bedford Blues a vital victory over fellow high fliers Cornish Pirates.

 

The Blues were let off early on as Pirates missed a penalty. Then six minutes into the game, Pritchard kicked between the sticks for his first points of the afternoon after Bedford were awarded a penalty of their own.

 

The game flowed between two teams clearly in confident moods. However, when Pirates Mike Myerscough was penalised for being offside, Pritchard stepped up to get his second points of the day and give blues a 6-0 lead 15 minutes in.

 

Blues had the first real opportunity to score a try in the game after Daryl Veenendaal broke through the Pirates defence only to be stopped just inches short.

 

The crowd and the Blues players around him were sure that the ball had been placed over the line, but the referee¡¯s decision proved to be spot on.

 

However it wasn¡¯t to go all Bedford¡¯s way, Edd Thrower was yellow carded for deliberately slapping the ball into touch 23 minutes in. Pirate¡¯s full back Rob Cook had broken down the right wing and chipped over Jackson Wray. Covering Thrower had no choice but to knock the ball out of touch to prevent the try and referee Martin Fox sent him to the bin.

 

With the extra man advantage Pirates saw plenty of the ball, and eventually they were able to get some points on the board when Cook converted from 17 metres after Joe Clark was penalised.

 

However, the Blues regained their six point advantage four minutes later as Pritchard continued his superb kicking form with a penalty from the left wing.

 

Just as Thrower was preparing to come back onto the pitch the Cornish side scored the try they had been threatening. After continued pressure near the Blues try line, Pirates forward Dave Ward was able to dot down after 33 minutes.

 

Cook missed his conversion and Blues hit back straight from the off looking to score themselves as Alex Rae was stopped just a metre short. The ball was played back to Myles Dorrian who was lucky to get away with a handling error, but able to win a penalty on the 22 which Pritchard added to his total for the day giving the Blues a 12-8 half time lead.

 

Pirates came out for the second period with real grit and determination. A knock on by Wray put the Blues under pressure and from the resulting play, Ward was able to break through the Bedford defence and get his second of the afternoon under the posts.

 

Cook was only too happy to convert and put the Pirates into the lead for the first time.

 

Good work by replacement Harding in the midfield saw the ball played wide to Dodge who made up nearly 40 metres before offloading. After 48 minutes, the ball eventually came to Dorrian who was able to pass to Bedford to dot down under the posts, with the reliable Pritchard making the lead to 19-15.

 

The confidence was flowing through the Blues after that try as they played some of their most attractive rugby of the match. Short, Thrower, Pritchard and Dodge all combined to see the latter score a well worked try. Pritchard converted to give the Blues a 26-15 advantage.

 

Pirates responded with pressure of their own and Cook was able to break through the defence to score and convert his own try 67 minutes in. It could have been worse for the Blues had a Wes Davies chip not bounced out of play when clean through at 26-22.

 

The Blues were able to increase their lead and manage the score board as a penalty was awarded when the tackler on Dodge didn¡¯t roll away, and Pritchard¡¯s confident kicking gave the Blues a seven point lead at a crucial time in the game.

 

With three minutes to go, the Canadian International increased the lead further by kicking a penalty over from 35 metres after the Pirates were penalised for being offside once again.

 

Cook replied with a penalty of his own in the 78th minute from nearly 40 metres, but it was too little too late for the Cornish club.

 

Blues Starting XV: Thrower, Short (Schmidt, 68), Dodge, Bedford, Pritchard (c), Dorrian, Veenendaal (N Walshe, 74), Ovens (S Walsh, 42), Clark (Richmond, 65), Seal, Howard (Tomes, 47) Rae, Gillanders, Fraser (Harding 47), Wray. Not used: Boulton.

 

Referee: Martin Fox

 

Attendance: 3243

MATCH REPORT V BRISTOL

It was the proverbial game of two halves at the Memorial Stadium on Sunday afetrnoon, but the Blues had a little more in the tank as they defeated Bristol 16-23 in front of a depleted home crowd.

Tries from Gregor Gillanders and Tom Bedford did the dameage, but it was a 100 per cent kicking display from James Pritchard that ensured the Blues kept their noses in front come 80 minutes.

Bedford start in attacking mood with Jackson Wray and Paul Tupai both carrying the ball well before Bristol were caught offside giving Pritchard the opportunity to slot the points.

The Blues continued to play a good territorial kicking game, but they nearly came unstuck in the seventh minute when Bris winger George Watkins spotted a wide opening and broke deep into the Blues half, but with no support Will Fraser just picked up the ball and cleared.

A sloppy penalty allowed Bristol to take control and Nicky Little kicked superbly to set up an attacking lineout in the tenth minute only for David Blaney to knock on at the breakdown giving Bedford the chance to clear.

Bristol had a bit of wind in their sails, but despite a second promising lineout ball, Bedford defended superbly to drag Junior Fatialofa into touch and avert any possibility of a score.

Both teams were making silly errors in the opening 15 minutes, but neither capitalised on these mistakes and it got to the stage when a soft knock on from Bristol¡¯s Jack Adams left the centre frustrated and swinging his handbag¡­at Toops, which wasn¡¯t the brightest of ideas.

Bristol got their first chance for points when the Blues were judged to have come through the side of a ruck and Nicky Little duly obliged with the conversion to make it 3-3.

The Blues scored the opening, and fortunate, first try of the game in the 26th minute. Edd Thrower sent a big up-and-under Bristol¡¯s direction which wasn¡¯t dealt with and it bounced straight into Gregor Gillanders arms and he galloped clear. Pritchard then converted superbly from the right wing.

Bristol had plenty of chances to reply in the next six minutes ¨C which could easily have been a penalty try after several scrums went down ¨C but poor decision making led to a knock on and then a penalty in Bedford¡¯s favour.

Never a team to give up the Blues went on the attack thanks to a fine interception from Dorrian. It led to Darryl Veenendaal breaking down the blindside and then the ball going through James Short, Gillanders and Alex Rae before Tom Bedford was in the right place at the right time to cross the line and Pritchard converted again to make it 3-17 at half time.

With the Bedford scrum coming under some pressure in the opening half, Dan Seal was brought on to strengthen things up and straight away a penalty went in the Blues direction with Pritchard converting.

Bristol made it into Bedford¡¯s 22 three minutes later and when the Blues were penalised for an infringement at the ruck Little added the points to make it 6-20.

Bristol finally kicked into gear in the 55th minute and played some fast rugby which resulted in Sean Marsden crashing through and Ed Barnes added the extras to bring it back to a converted try difference of 13-20.

All the excitement got to Bristol and they foolishly gave away another penalty which Pritchard duly converted to extend the lead once more.

But Bristol had finally found their rhythm and they were starting to create havoc. A series of penalties at the scrum followed, but Ed Barnes decided to take the points from just right of the uprights.

With the clock ticking down and Bristol on the front foot the Blues defended magnificently and had James Short not rolled the opposite direction when he took in a fine Dorrian punt, he would have seen Thrower free on the right, but the chance disappeared.

Bris rallied late on, but again the Blues held firm and the game ended with Wray punting the ball out of the back of the ruck.

 

Scorers. Bristol: Try; Marsden ¨C Con; Barnes - Pen; Little (2), Barnes. Bedford: Try; Gillanders, Bedford ¨C Con; Pritchard (2) ¨C Pen; Pritchard (3).

Teams. Bristol: Marsden, Tovey, Adams, F|atialofa, Watkins, Little (Barnes 53), Alford (Bolt 49), Irish (Moss 77), Blaney (Hayes 57), Vunipola, Barry (Glynn 57), Winters, Grieve, Merriman, Montagu (Miller 67). Not used: Sambucetti

Bedford. Thrower, Short, Bedford, Vass, Pritchard, Dorrian, Veenendaal, Ovens (Walsh 60), Richmond (Clark 67), Boulton (Seal 41), Tupai (Howard 60), Rae, Gillanders, Fraser (Tomes 71), Wray. Not used: Chudley, Walshe.

Attendance: 3,946

MATCH REPORT V MOSELEY

Try scoring hero James Short believes that it was his pace and strength that caused Moseley problems, as the Blues routed the Midlands side on Ladies Day at Goldington Road.

Four tries from the young dual registered Saracens player, led to a comprehensive 41-12 victory. Further tries from Myles Dorrian and Gregor Gillanders completed the win.

 

¡°That¡¯s always been my forte as a winger,¡± said Short after the match.

 

¡°I always try to be stronger and quicker and I¡¯m glad it came off for me.

 

¡°I can¡¯t remember the last time I scored four in a game, maybe when I was younger, but certainly it¡¯s great to do it here and at this level.¡±

The 100th competitive game between the two clubs, started in a mixed fashion with neither team getting a grip on the matter, and kicking poorly, with the autumnal wind not helping.

 

Bedford soon got hold of things and in the sixth minute Edd Thrower picked up the ball on the wing and danced around several Moseley men before offloading out wide to Ollie Dodge who played the ball to Short who dotted down.

 

But Bedford weren¡¯t to have it all their way in the first period as Moseley had good spells of possession and territory. Eventually the Blues¡¯ defence gave way.

The excellent team defence was interrupted by two blood replacements, Gillanders and Dodge being forced to come off. This disruption affected the team and they conceded a Moseley try 21 minutes in. The Midlanders were able to break through with Chevvy Pennycook scoring and Oliver Thomas converting.

 

It wasn¡¯t until the 33nd minute that Thrower and Short combined again to score. The former picked up the ball near the half way point, and looked like he would go all the way, before being tackled, but he held his composure to pass to Short whose pace and strength drove him over the line. Dorrian converted to put the Blues 12-7 in front.

 

However the lead was short lived, after Moseley broke forward themselves, playing the ball wide to Michael Maltman, who scored to make it all square. The conversion was missed by Thomas preventing them from taking the lead.

 

But it was Blues who would keep the momentum going at half time when Short got his hat-trick. A penalty on the left wing was taken by Will Chudley. After good forward play from Paul Tupai the ball found Short whose strength once again meant he beat his man to score. Dorrian converted the try give the Blues a 19-12 lead at the break which could have been more if Pritchard¡¯s chip and chase hadn¡¯t bounced over the Canadian International¡¯s head.

 

Short got his fourth try of the game in the 57th minute, when Jackson Wray broke through the centre from the half way line and was brought down five metres out. The ball was then picked up by replacement scrum half Daryl Veneendaal who offloaded to Short to claim his easiest score of the afternoon. Dorrian missed his conversion, but Blues were now 24-12 in front.

 

The lead was extended further when Dorrian converted a penalty after Moseley failed to roll away from a tackle made on Gillanders.

The Blues then rounded off a dominant second period with two late tries. The first was from Dorrian, who converted his own score from under the posts in the 77th minute after a good move in the midfield.

 

And two minutes later Tom Bedford broke forward, offloading to Pritchard who found Gillanders. The flanker dived over the line and Dorrian converted to complete the rout 41-12

Bedford Starting XV: Thrower, Short, Burke (Walshe), Bedford, Dodge (Pritchard), Dorrian, Chudley (Veenendaal), Ovens, Richmond (C) (Clark), Boulton (Seal), Tupai (Howard), Rae, Gillanders, Fraser, Wray. Not used: Tomes

Attendance: 3018

MATCH REPORT V DONCASTER

Bedford Blues came from behind to gain a hard earned 24-29 win at Castle Park against Doncaster Knights on Saturday thanks to two tries from full debutant Edd Thrower and one from Myles Dorrian.

 

The game started in a fiery fashion which came to the boil in the second minute when Paul Tupai and Donny¡¯s PJ Gidlow were involved in a brawl which earned them both a yellow card.

 

Bedford struggled to deal with a Doncaster counter-attack in the 11th minute, as the Knights full back Stephen McColl dotted down after breaking through unchallenged. McColl missed converting his own try but the Knights had the lead against the run of play.

 

Buoyed by their score the Knights nearly broke through again only to be stopped by a high tackle by Chris Goodman. Tristan Roberts converted the penalty to give the Knights an 8-0 lead 15 minute in.

 

Blues, feeling hard done by the score line hit back almost immediately in the 17th minute when excellent play by both the forwards and backs saw debutant Thrower score.  Sean Tomes broke through the Knights defence before playing the ball wide to Goodman. He then passed the ball to Ollie Dodge who managed to find Thrower on the wing who dived over the line.

 

In the 29th minute, Thrower produced some real magic for the Blues. Picking up the ball from Myles Dorrian in his own half he danced and skipped his way around what seemed half of the Knights defence to dive down in the corner. Pritchard was unable to convert but it meant Blues took the lead, 10-8.

 

The lead was short lived though as a mistake in the scrum gave Doncaster a soft penalty which was converted by Roberts to give the Knights an 11-10 lead.

Bedford responded with some pressure of their own and were awarded a penalty for offside which James Pritchard converted to restore their slim lead.

 

The away team were not able to hold onto it though after Donny pressure in the Blues 22 paid off. The Knights forwards pressured and eventually allowed Doncaster fly half Roberts to break through the Blues defence and convert his own try and give the Knights an 18-13 lead at the break.

 

Blues were punished right from the kick off of the second period when Bedford¡¯s forwards were punished for binding Alex Rae, and Roberts extended the Knights lead with the penalty.

 

Pritchard was able to narrow the lead by converting a Blues penalty in the 55th minute, but it was Doncaster who showed more attacking flare and the more likely to score again.

 

Pritchard was then penalised in the 60th minute for a high tackle and Roberts converted to restore the Knights eight point lead.

 

Pritchard was then replaced by Owen Farrell who had an immediate impact converting a penalty to get the Blues within five points of the Yorkshire side.

In the 66th minute Doncaster had Daniel Frazier yellow carded when he threw a punch in the scrum and Farrell followed up his superb first kick with a second to bring the scores closer at 24-22.

 

With a man advantage and the confidence of being within reach began to show in the 70th minute. Pressure from Mike Rayer¡¯s team eventually saw Darryl Veendendaal break in the Knights 22. He went past his man and passed back into the centre to Dorrian who touched down under the posts, giving Farrell an easy conversion and put the Blues into the lead 29-24.   

 

In the dying moments of the match Doncaster really applied pressure just outside the Blues 22, but they were unable to make the most of it and it was the Blues who most looked like scoring again on the counterattack through the pace of replacement James Short.

 

Team: Thrower, Schmidt (Short), James Pritchard (Farrell), Bedford, Dodge, Dorrian, Veenendaal, Ovens (Boulton), Clark (Richmond), Seal, Tupai, Tomes (Gillanders), Rae, Goodman, Wray (Fraser)
  

Ref: Luke Pearce

 

Attendance: 1022

MATCH REPORT V ESHER

Last time these sides met at Goldington Road, Bedford Blues condemned Esher to relegation from the old National Division One.

This time there was not so much at stake, but the result was the same as Bedford enjoyed a comfortable win over their previously unbeaten opponents.

 
The visitors arrived hoping to exorcise those demons from two seasons ago, with Mike Schmid¡¯s side feeling confident after an unbeaten start to the new campaign which included a shock victory at home to Bristol last weekend.

Meanwhile, the Blues were looking to bounce back from their agonising late defeat at Rotherham in round two, with director of rugby Mike Rayer making several changes. Laurence Ovens missed out after he sustained a mild concussion in last Saturday¡¯s match.

The previous meeting between the sides ended with Bedford running up a half century of points and they threatened to do that again after taking the lead two minutes in.

Darryl Veenendaal made good yards after a quickly taken tap penalty, drawing in the covering defenders before passing to James Pritchard, who scored under the posts to give himself a simple conversion.

Sam Ulph reduced the arrears four minutes later with a penalty from nearly 35 metres out, but the hosts were on the charge again on 13 minutes.

A brilliant offload from Sean Tomes just on halfway sent through Greg Gillanders, who in turn passed to Sacha Harding. He was denied by some last gasp defending, but Esher were penalised for not releasing the tackled player and, after some handbags between the sides, Pritchard slotted over the penalty.

Ulph put wide an attempt of his own three minutes later and once the Blues had re-asserted their authority they pushed further ahead when James Short cut through the Esher defence and fed Handre Schmidt, with the winger running in behind the posts to score and Pritchard duly adding the extras.

A penalty from visiting wide man Ulph on 22 minutes saw the E¡¯s notch up three more points, but they were struggling to cope with the home side¡¯s quick play. However, Bedford were dealt a blow when Harding was forced off three minutes later.

The Blues back division had been showing great, quick passing which Esher were struggling to cope with, and on 32 minutes they broke the line again when Short spotted a gap and burst through before offloading to Pritchard. However, he was hauled down 20 metres out.

Replacement Alex Rae, on for the injured Mike Howard, then fumbled after Jackson Wray seemed to have put him in the clear, while at the other end Ulph landed an ambitious penalty from just inside his own half in added time.

Blues led 17-9 at the interval, but they extended that by a further seven points within four minutes of the restart thanks again to the quick thinking of Veenendaal.

Another tap penalty from him set up the attack and when Duncan Taylor was stopped ten metres out, the ball was recycled out to the scrum half who dived under the posts with Pritchard converting.

With the Blues smelling the possibility of securing a bonus point they started throwing the ball around, but repeated knock-ons in Esher territory cost them dear. Bedford¡¯s powerful scrum also took them to within touching distance of the tryline three minutes after the hour, only to be held up.

The fourth did come five minutes from time and it was Tomes who finished off a fine flowing move out wide, while Pritchard maintained his one hundred per cent record with the boot. Esher¡¯s Michael Blakeburn was then lucky to receive only a yellow card for a disgraceful late hit on Taylor which left the Blues centre out cold on the ground.

Bedford also had replacement Chris Goodman sin-binned for a dangerous tackle in the final minute, but that failed to take the shine off a fine win for the hosts. 

Bedford Blues: Pritchard; Schmidt, Taylor, Bedford, Short; Farrell, Veenendaal; Seal, Clarke, Boulton, Howard, Tomes, Gillanders, Harding, Wray. Replacements:Richmond, Brown, Rae, Goodman, Chudley, Dorrian, Thrower

MATCH REPORT V ROTHERHAM

Bedford Blues lost their first game of the new Championship season in a heartbreaking extra time comeback with Rotherham Titans¡¯ Juan Socino converting his own try.

The inside centre claimed all his team¡¯s points leading up to the crucial score via his boot as Mike Rayer¡¯s men were penalised time and again.

But if the Goldington Road outfit had taken their opportunities in the first half ¨C most notably a golden chance for Tom Bedford ¨C they could still be enjoying a 100 per cent start to the new season.

Blues skipper James Pritchard put his team ahead in the ninth minute. He¡¯d already seen a penalty sail wide on the sticks in the third minute, but his second effort was true.

 

It soon became 10-0 as Bedford turned defence into a lightning attack just after the quarter hour mark. Duncan Taylor chased down a Brendan Burke kick and slammed into Richard Welding just as he collected it to turn the ball over. After pushing closer to the try line, the ball was worked out to Darryl Veenendaal who jinked through a gap to dot down beside the post. Pritchard converted and Blues were in full control.

Rotherham¡¯ Matt Rhodes put a big hit on Sacha Harding on 19 minutes but came off worse and had to go to the blood bin. In amongst the melee Bedford were awarded a penalty for hands in the ruck and Pritchard extended the lead to 13-0.

Two minutes later and Blues should have claimed a second try as a superb change of direction from Myles Dorrian saw him wriggle free ten metres from the posts. With defenders scrambling back the fly half opted, perhaps unnecessarily, to offload to Bedford, who fumbled the pass and knocked on with no-one near him.  

As the half edged to the interval, the hosts began to exert some heavy pressure and in the 40th minute they were given a way back into the match with a penalty chance for offside and Socino converted.

Titans kept the pressure up straight from the restart but four minutes into extra time Blues looked to have ridden it out when the touch judge saw Rotherham¡¯s Adam Kettle stamping when his team had been camped out a few metres from Blues¡¯ line in the corner.

 

Then, an astonishing six minutes into time added on, Rotherham were given were given another penalty, somewhat dubiously for offside, despite the ball having emerged from a ruck. Socino easily converted to make it 13-6 and give his team something to chase in the second session

After the interval, the game was largely centred inside Bedford¡¯s territory as they struggled to clear their lines. When they did, they invariably gave away a needless penalty and the ball returned to Titan hands.

A penalty, for the collapsing of a scrum, handed Socino a chance to reduce the deficit further on 53 minutes, which he took.

Pritchard restored Blues¡¯ lead soon after, but it barely last two minutes as the newly introduced Sean Tomes gave away a silly penalty. Socino made it 16-12.

An opportunity for the Titans¡¯ kicker to put them within one point was missed on 68 minutes, as was a try scoring chance soon after. Kettle broke free and passed to Henry Paul, but in a similar scenario to Bedford¡¯s chance in the first half, the Rotherham man knocked on when a try beckoned.

Nevertheless, a score looked ominous for the home team, and their chances increased when Ollie Dodge was sin-binned eight minutes from time for killing the ball as Rotherham pushed again.

 

Blues made it to the halfway line and a lineout but they lost it and from that the ball was moved out wide and James Sandford broke all the way up the flank before being halted five metres short and it was backs to the wall all over again.

The clocked ticked over the 80 minute mark and Bedford just couldn¡¯t get away from their own line, but when they were awarded a penalty for hands in the ruck ¨C three minutes into added time ¨C the result seemed to have been secured.

But three more minutes ticked by and Bedford were penalised for holding on. Socino kicked for the corner before his team-mates won the ball and found him. He jinked his way through some tired defenders and with Pete Swatkins on the overlap, the inside centre used him as a decoy to cross the line and touch down closer to the posts than he should have been allowed. His conversion then sent Clifton Lane into raptures, despite protestation from Nick Walshe and James Pritchard towards referee Richard Wigglesworth for an infringement at the lineout.

 

MATCH REPORT V PLYMOUTH ALBION

Bedford Blues opened their Championship season in sizzling fashion as they swept aside Plymouth Albion in a very one sided affair.

The Blues ran in eight tries in all with Ollie Dodge scoring a hat-trick of tries, James Pritchard grabbing two and one apiece for Sacha Harding, Duncan Taylor and Dan Richmond. Pritchard added 11 points from the boot.

The Blues started the game by putting Albion under pressure in their own territory, and in the sixth minute, Plymouth conceded a penalty which Bedford¡¯s Captain James Pritchard duly converted to make it 3-0.

 

Blues were rewarded for their good play in the 25th minute after previously wasting several good chances. The ball was moved well left to right, as Paul Tupai played the ball to Jackson Wary who held off his man. He passed the ball to Brendan Burke, who was able to kick into the corner where Sacha Harding was able to pick up the ball and dive over the line. Pritchard missed the conversion but Blues led to 8-0.

 

Plymouth responded in the 29th minute when they won a penalty after a Blues tackler didn¡¯t roll away. Albion fly-half Mark Lee was able to convert it from the half way line to give them three points in what would be their only score of the game.

 

This only seemed to fire up Bedford, who put endless pressure on Plymouth and in the 34th minute they scored again. The ball was moved from the centre with great vision Burke, passed a long ball to Paul Tupai who played a smart ball to Ollie Dodge who broke through the Plymouth defence to score his first try of the afternoon which was converted by Pritchard to give Blues a 15-3 lead.

 

Blues were able to score again in extra time after more good play from Burke who once again played in Ollie Dodge to score. Pritchard couldn¡¯t convert the try but Blues went in at Half time 20-3 up.

Plymouth scrum half Ruairi Cushion was sin binned for Plymouth for continually fouling early in the second period and Blues were able to make the most of the extra man advantage.

 

In the 43rd minute, the Blues were able to force their way over the white line with former captain Dan Richmond emerging with the ball having scored. Pritchard stepped up to score the conversion and put his team in front by 27-3.

 

By this point Bedford were rampant. In the 47th when Taylor ran through the Plymouth defence, passed to Wray, who beat his man and then played the ball to Ollie Dodge to score his third try of the day. Pritchard missed the conversion but Mike Rayer¡¯s team had a convincing 32-3 lead.

 

Even with Cushion back on the pitch Plymouth couldn¡¯t contain the hosts, who in the 56th scored again when Taylor dotted down after good work from scrum half Daryl Veenendaal. Pritchard converted his kick to put Blues into a commanding 39-3 position.

 

In the 76th minute the home team were able to further build on their lead. The ball was moved back into the midfield before going wide where Pritchard was able to score and then convert his own try to give put Bedford 46-3 ahead.

 

Blues capped the rout off in the 80th minute after continuous pressure on the Plymouth defence. The ball was played wide before replacement Nick Walshe played a delightful chip over the Albion players and into the path of Pritchard to score his second try of the match. He missed the conversion but Blues came away with a very impressive 51-3 win.

 

Scorers. Bedford: Tries; Harding, Dodge (3), Richmond, Taylor, Pritchard (2) ¨C Con; Pritchard (4) ¨C Pen; Pritchard

 

Bedford team: Pritchard (c) Taylor, Burke, Bedford, Dodge (Short 58), Dorrian (Farrell 58), Veenendaal (Walshe 64), Ovens, Richmond (Clark 64), Seal (Boulton 50), Howard, Tupai (Tomes 64), Rae (Gillanders 58), Harding, Wray.

 

Attendance: 2447

 

INTERNATIONAL TICKETS

Allocation of Tickets:
Applications are processed with priority given to season ticket holders although every effort is made to try and ensure that 'ordinary' Club members receive some tickets for one of the matches. This can usually be achieved but with only two home matches this season this may be difficult this year.

There is no limit to the number of tickets for which you may apply but tickets are usually allocated in pairs and it is rare for a Club member to receive more than this. If a member applies for tickets for more than one game every effort is made to ensure that they receive an allocation for at least one of the games although this is not always possible.

Warning:
The RFU ruled that our allocation of tickets for this season would be reduced by 10% but that this reduction is suspended for one year. This followed the actions of one of our members who attempted to sell tickets allocated to him by the Club on e-bay.The ruling means that any breach of RFU regulations this season will result in much stronger penalties being imposed by the RFU in following years.

May I remind all of you lucky enough to be allocated tickets that you should not sell the tickets on to a third party. If the tickets fall into the wrong hands and the club is reported to the Rugby Union we are in danger of losing our future allocation of tickets. If you are unable to use your allocation please contact the club ¨C there are always club members desperate to attend the matches who have not been so lucky.

The RFU are taking very strong action to eradicate the sale of tickets on the black market. These include monitoring sites such as e-bay, buying tickets from illegal sources to ascertain their origins and monitoring unlicensed hospitality companies.

For those of you fortunate to be allocated tickets I hope you enjoy your day.

2010-11 SEASON STRUCTURE

The season will follow the three stage system of the 2009-10 season - 22 Rounds (Stage 1, see below), six Play-Off rounds (Stage 2) followed by semi-finals and a double-legged final (Stage 3).

Clubs finishing in the top eight will go into two promotion pools of four and based on their ranking will start with points as a reward for their record during Rounds 1-22. The 1st ranked team will have three points, the 2nd two, the 3rd one and the 4th none.

Clubs finishing in the bottom four will go into one relegation pool and will carry forward one point for every game won in Rounds 1-22.

RFU Tournament and Competitions Director Terry Burwell said: "The inaugural RFU Championship season produced some exciting rugby with more television exposure than ever before at this level thanks to the RFU's five-year agreement with Sky Sports, culminating in a thrilling climax in the pool and knockout stages.

"We have reviewed the season in conjunction with the Championship clubs and developed a structure which rewards teams for their record throughout 22 rounds of the regular season but retains the excitement of the Play-Offs."

Geoff Irvine, Chairman of the Championship Clubs, added: "We are excited about the second season of the Championship and feel that the changes made reflect the desire of the clubs to have some incentive which can be carried forward to the Play-Offs."

The transfer deadline for signing players ahead of the Play-Offs has been extended by two weeks until Friday, January 28, prior to Round 19.

In addition, clubs may not play or select as a replacement in a match more than six England Academy players and loan players, of which no more than three shall be loan players.

The 2010-11 RFU Championship

12 clubs - Bedford Blues, Birmingham & Solihull, Bristol Rugby, Cornish Pirates, Doncaster Knights, Esher, London Welsh, Moseley, Nottingham Rugby, Plymouth Albion, Rotherham Titans, Worcester Warriors

Stage 1 (22 matches, starting weekend of August 28)
* all teams playing 22 matches (11 home & 11 away)
* 4 points for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 bonus point for either a) scoring 4 or more tries or b) losing by 7 points or less
* top 8 teams from league progress to promotion play-offs
* teams 9-12 from league progress to relegation play-offs

Promotion Play-Offs - Stage 2 (6 matches)
* promotion play-off matches March 12, 19, 26 to April 2, 9, 16
* 2 pools of 4 teams playing 6 matches (3 home & 3 away)
* teams finishing 1, 4, 5 & 8 from league play in Pool A and will be ranked 1 to 4
* teams finishing 2, 3, 6 & 7 from league play in Pool B and will be ranked 1 to 4
* the 1st ranked team in each pool will start the Play-Offs with three points, the 2nd two, the 3rd one and the 4th none
* 4 points for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 bonus point for either a) scoring 4 or more tries or b) losing by 7 points or le
* after 6 pool matches, top 2 teams from Pools A & B progress to semi final and then the winners to the final

Relegation Play-Offs (6 matches)
* relegation play-off matches scheduled for March 12, 19, 26 - April 2, 9, 16
* 1 pool of 4 teams playing 6 matches (3 home & 3 away)
* each team will carry forward one point for every game won in Stage 1.
* 4 points for a win, 2 for a draw, 1 bonus point for either a) scoring 4 or more tries or b) losing by 7 points or less
* after 6 pool matches played, lowest ranked team is relegated to National Division One (level three)

Knockout games - Stage 3 (3 matches)
* semi final draw - 1st Pool A v 2nd Pool B & 1st Pool B v 2nd Pool A
* semi finals April 30
* final May 14 & 21(TBC subject to broadcast rights holders Sky Sports).
* winner of Championship final promoted to Guinness Premiership subject to fulfilling entry criteria

PRE-SEASON FIXTURES

Bedford Blues can confirm that they have arranged three pre-season friendlies before the real business of the second Championship season begins.

The 2010/11 season is sure to be a long and bruising affair for the entire squad but the Blues are squeezing in three tough encounters in just eight days in preparation for the year ahead.

On Friday evening, 13 August, Northampton Saints will be making the relatively short journey to Goldington Road in a return fixture of the friendly that took place at Franklins¡¯ Gardens last August. This fixture is always a thrilling affair with several players from both sides pitting their wits against their former employers.

The following Tuesday evening, 17 August, Bedford are set to face Premiership finalists Saracens at Goldington Road in what is sure to be a crunching encounter. Sarries took the Premiership by storm last season as they put an impressive unbeaten run together at the start of the season before making it through to the showpiece final only to be defeated by Leicester in a cracking match at Twickenham.

 

The final friendly sees the Blues travelling down to London on Saturday 21 August to face Rosslyn Park in another return fixture from last August. The Roehampton side won promotion from the fourth tier of rugby last season and will be keen to put on a good display when Bedford come to town. Kick-off is 3pm.

Looking ahead to the games director of rugby Mike Rayer said: ¡°I think it will be fair to say that we are going to learn a lot about our squad during these three matches. We will also have the opportunity to rotate players and get a good idea of what combinations work and what ones may not.

¡°Everybody knows that the Championship is a long season especially with the inclusion of the British and Irish Cup. Hopefully by packing in the pre-season fixtures, we allow the lads to be fresh as they head into the year ahead.

¡°We have two of the biggest Premiership sides coming to Goldington Road and I¡¯m sure that our fans will be just as excited about this game as the players. We faced Rosslyn Park before last season and they gave us a great game. They have had a cracking season and I¡¯m sure that they are going to be just as hard a challenge as the Premiership duo.¡±  

Full ticket details to follow.