News
Match Report v Doncaster Knights
Bedford Blues secured their first victory of the 2021/22 Championship campaign with a resolute defensive performance and a 31-23 victory over Doncaster Knights.
After a tricky time with the set-piece last weekend in Jersey, Blues were back to their resolute best in defence, so much so that Doncaster stopped trying to set up a driving maul in the second-half after going absolutely nowhere in the first 40 minutes.
Both sides looked sharp with ball in hand, only four scrums throughout the game highlighting that, but it was Blues who got off on the better footing to take an early lead through two Will Maisey penalties.
Doncaster did spend a lot of time camped in the Blues half early on and after a Sam Olver penalty got them on the board, the visitors took the lead for the first time in the game as Gareth Denman went over from close range after patient build-up from the forwards through several phases.
Blues hit back almost immediately as Pat Tapley continued his rich vein of form. Rich Lane sent a grubber through into the 22m, Doncaster full-back Billy McBryde misjudged the bounce of the ball, and Tapley was able to get hold of it and dot down. A missed conversion made it 11-10 to the hosts.
One final score before half-time put Doncaster in-front at the break. This time scrum half Alex Dolly went himself after more patient build-up and made it 17-11.
That was to be the last time Doncaster held the advantage as after Lane crossed just a minute after the restart, Blues never looked back as they got their campaign well and truly underway with a first victory of the campaign.
It came from even more quality attacking intent and when Blues peeled from the lineout, Maisey sent it wide and Lane ran it in from halfway.
Blues' final try was more clever intuition, this time from the forwards. Alex Woolford went up to collect the lineout and played it back inside to Tui Uru who went through the gap to make it 25-17.
Olver kicked two penalties to make it a nervy ending at Goldington Road, but Maisey responded with two of his own to ensure Doncaster were denied a losing bonus point and Blues are up and running in the Championship.
Assistant Coach, Jake Sharp said: "It’s real credit to the forwards and to my fellow coaches, Sean McCarthy and James Craig, because we really sorted things out up front and improved massively on the areas which cost us last weekend.
“Fair play to Doncaster as well because they showed they wanted to run the ball and we had to defend for a lot of the game. That resolute defensive work set the platform, and we scored three first-phase tries which were beautiful to watch.
“Before the game we spoke as a group about the pride and passion of the town and I think we showed that with our performance. The challenge now is to hit those same heights in the coming weeks.
“The Championship is very congested in terms of the table. It can be a really exciting season for us, we’re showing different ways we can win, and we want to put a run of results together now.”
*Matchday photography provided by Claire Jones*
Teams
BEDFORD BLUES
15. Rich Lane (C), 14. Matt Worley, 13. Jamie Elliott, 12. Tom Litchfield (52'), 11. Pat Tapley, 10. Will Maisey, 9. Alex Day (52'); 1. Emmanuel Iyogun (61'), 2. Jack Hughes, 3. Corrie Barrett (48'), 4. Brandon Nansen (48'), 5. Alex Woolford (80'), 6. Bailey Ransom, 7. Joe Atkinson, 8. Oli Stedman (48')
Replacements
16. Josh Pieterse (80'), 17. Joey Conway (61'), 18. Ed Prowse (48'), 19. Luke Frost (48'), 20. Tui Uru (48'), 21. Connor Tupai (52'), 22. Louis Grimoldby, 23. Ethan Grayson (60')
DONCASTER KNIGHTS
15. Billy McBryde, 14. Kyle Evans, 13. Fraser Strachan, 12. Connor Edwards (74'), 11. Jack Spittle, 10. Sam Olver, 9. Alex Dolly; 1. Conrad Cade, 2. George Edgson (56'), 3. Gaz Denman (75'), 4. Danny Drake, 5. Josh Peters (56'), 6. John Kelly, 7. Sam Graham, 8. Guido Volpi (50')
Replacements:
16. Peter Roberts (56'), 17. Will Vaughan, 18. Henry Paul (75'), 19. Jack Davies (56'), 20. Sam Hudson (50'), 21. Joe Green, 22. Mark Best (74'), 23. Ronan McCusker
REFEREE
Nick Wood
ATTENDANCE
2,825
