News

Match Report v Jersey Reds

Posted: 25th September 2021

Bedford Blues attempted a remarkable second half comeback against early pace setters, Jersey Reds but ultimately came up short in a 40-28 defeat on the Island.

Trailing 26-7 at the break, and down to 13 men, it felt a tricky task, and although Blues didn't quite get the victory, they can be mightily proud of their second-half performance which will cause problems to every side in the league goign forwards.

The first-half hour, apart from a try apiece to both sides, was pretty much a non event with neither side particularly asserting any dominance with errors galore and a real dogged battle in all areas of the pitch.

Jersey opened the scorign with their real attack. Guy Thompson - who returned to the Island from Ealing this summer - made the initial yardage before he found captain Lewis Wynne who in turn sent Dan Barnes away in the clear. The conversion from scrum-half James Mitchell - who was excellent throughout - made it 7-0.

Blues hit back just before the half hour to get their Championship campaign up and running for another year. After Jersey sent the ball high, Rich Lane started the move which saw Pat Tapley have an easy sprint to the line from 40m. A touchline conversion from Will Maisey tied the game.

The pendulum ultimately swung in Jersey's favour within the final 10 minutes as they blitzed Bedford's defence, scorign 19 unanswered points and forcing Blues to fall down to 13 men.

Jersey retook the lead thanks to a penalty try - which also saw Oli Stedman go to the sin bin following an infringement in stopping the driving maul. Former Blues man Ryan Olowofela, who was another standout peformer, also crossed shortly after as the score went to 19-7.

Oisin Heffernan was next to go off for ten minutes when bringing Jersey down just short, but they made their numerical advantage count following the penalty as Eoghan Clarke got the first of his hat-trick.

If Jersey thought the second half was going to be a formality, they could think again as Blues again showed courage in the face of adversity to almost complete what could have been one of the club's best comebacks in our illustrious history.

The set-piece was all going in Jersey's favour and while we never really got it together with the line-out, a dominant performance in the scrum gave us the platform to mount the comeback. First, quick hands through Stedman and Heffernan sent Matt Worley away before Stedman got in on the act himself to cut the lead to just five points.

Jersey scored their first points of the secodn-half through Clarke as they continued their driving maul dominance but even that didn't stop Bedford as they hit back almost immediately when Jack Hughes crashed over from close range.

That again put the frighteners on Jersey but they ultimately weathered the storm and countered to ensure they concluded the scoring on a pulsating afternoon of rugby. Again it was Clarke as their driving maul - which worked so well for them last weekend - again came good.

A bonus point for the Blues from a performance that would beat many opposition. Things to work on ahead of Doncaster Knight under the Friday Night Lights, buy tickets for the game and join us at Goldington Road!

*Matchday photography provided by Jacquie Ranieri and Rich Chapman*

Teams

BEDFORD BLUES

15. Rich Lane (C), 14. Matt Worley, 13. Jamie Elliott, 12. Ethan Grayson (57'), 11. Pat Tapley (64'), 10. Will Maisey, 9. Alex Day (57'); 1. Emmanuel Iyogun (62'), 2. Will Biggs (40'), 3. Oisin Heffernan (64'), 4. Luke Frost, 5. Alex Woolford (62'), 6. Bailey Ransom, 7. Joe Atkinson, 8. Oli Stedman (64')

Replacements

16. Jack Hughes (40'), 17. Josh Pieterse (62'), 18. Corrie Barrett (64'), 19. Robin Williams (62'), 20. Tui Uru (64'), 21. Connor Tupai (57'), 22. Louis Grimoldby (57'), 23. Andre Robson (64')

JERSEY REDS

15. Harry Simmons, 14. Ryan Olowofela (77'), 13. Jack Roberts, 12. Dan Barnes, 11. Will Brown, 10. Brendan Owen, 9. James Mitchell (67'); 1. James Flynn (64'), 2. Eoghan Clarke (79'), 3. Ciaran Parker (64'), 4. Sean O'Connor (47'), 5. Macauley Cook, 6. Max Argyle (57'), 7. Lewis Wynne (C) (68'), 8. Guy Thompson

Replacements:

16. Harry Doolan (79'), 17. Roy Godfrey (64'), 18. Luke Yendle (64'), 19. Zak Farrance (47'), 20. Alex Humfrey (57'), 21. Wesley White (68'), 22. James Elliott (67'), 23. Jordan Holgate (77')