News
REPORT | Five star Bedford victorious over Scottish
Bedford Blues secured their first victory of the 2022/23 Championship season by edging an absolute humdinger with London Scottish, prevailing 49-36 at a packed Goldington Road.
Both sides crossed the whitewash six times apiece as blistering sunny conditions afforded free-flowing, attacking rugby and the two teams took advantage of that to rack up the points on the scoreboard. The final total of 85 was the largest for a Goldington Road Championship fixture since that memorable afternoon against Coventry in 2019 (53-52 victory).
Speaking about the game, Assistant Coach Jake Sharp said: “We looked pretty comfortable at half-time so fair play to Scottish for coming back, playing a really good brand of rugby and putting us under a lot of pressure.
“Hopefully the crowd will continue to come back and keep watching because they have seen a really great spectacle. Great to come out on top in the end but things to work on as well which will be what we challenge the squad about next week.”
It all seemed to be plain sailing for Mike Rayer’s side as they raced into a 21-0 lead within 15 minutes.
Blues were rampant in the opening exchanges and secured seven points every time they entered into the Scottish 22m, first crossing through captain Alex Day then Ethan Grayson before this little purple patch was ended by another classic, this time Matt Worley living up to his ‘magic’ nickname to dot down.
Will Maisey – who concluded the game with eight kicks out of nine – was consistent throughout and gave Blues a platform from which to build their momentum and scoreboard pressure.
But, very much akin to this fixture last season, Scottish didn’t know when they were beaten and grew into the game the longer it progressed. When they started to get more of a foothold in the scrum – which Blues had dominated early on – they were able to get ball in hand and cause problems.
Bryan Redpath made a number of changes to his side before the game, naming multiple debutants, and you could see that at times there was cohesion lacking, although that’s actually quite ominous for later in the campaign as the Londoners continue to build week on week.
A Dean Adamson try was sandwiched between converted scores from the Scottish props, Will Hobson and Fin Baxter, meaning the score line read 28-14 at the interval.
Charles Rylands’ yellow card late in the first half ensured Scottish were smelling blood as the action got back under way. They were irresistible at times, breaking through at will, and amazingly the score was 31-31 at the hour mark.
Blues could only muster a Will Maisey penalty in this period of total Scottish dominance who had Will Trenholm to thank for two tries, alongside one for Sam Riley.
When in trouble, Blues always look to Adamson and he delivered once again to put Blues back in-front, implementing a chip and chase after being set down the wing by a looping pass from Will Maisey. That was his 105th try for Bedford’s premier sporting club.
In this topsy-turvy encounter, back came Scottish as Trenholm completed his hat-trick. Blues were actually quite clever to let him score in the corner under pressure, ensuring a tricky conversion which was missed.
Buoyed by a 2,000+ crowd, Blues thankfully never looked back from there – another super score from Jake Garside increased the breathing room, before two Maisey penalties put the icing on the cake. A fantastic five point haul on a fantastic afternoon.
*Matchday Photography by Dan Fennell - FennellTakesFotos*
Teams
BEDFORD BLUES
15. Matt Worley, 14. Sean French (59'), 13. Ethan Grayson (72'), 12. Michael Le Bourgeois, 11. Dean Adamson, 10. Will Maisey, 9. Alex Day (C) (52'); 1. Joey Conway (68'), 2. James Fish (43'), 3. Ed Prowse (55'), 4. Robin Williams, 5. Alex Woolford (1'), 6. Geordie Irvine, 7. Charles Rylands (68'), 8. Jac Arthur
Replacements
16. Jacob Fields (43'), 17. Monty Royston (68'), 18. Corrie Barrett (55'), 19. Kayde Sylvester (1'), 20. Jack Hughes (68'), 21. Jake Garside (52'), 22. Louis Grimoldby (72'), 23. Pat Tapley (59')
LONDON SCOTTISH
15. Cameron Anderson, 14. Noah Ferdinand, 13. Bryn Bradley (68'), 12. Theo Manihera (59'), 11. Cassius Cleaves, 10. Jamie Benson, 9. Dan Nutton (C) (52'); 1. Fix Baxter, 2. Cameron Terry (52'), 3. Will Hobson (52'), 4. David Bridge (75'), 5. Matt Wilkinson, 6. Brian Tuilagi (65'), 7. Will Trenholm, 8. Viliami Taulani
Replacements:
16. Sam Riley, 17. Sam Gratton (52'), 18. Joe Rees (52'), 19. Angus Southon (75'), 20. Cameron King (65'), 21. Ed Hoadley (52'), 22. Robbie McCallum (59'), 23. Charlie Ingall (68')
REFEREE
Mike Hudson
ATTENDANCE
2,218
