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REPORT | Stunning showing shocks Stamford
The greatest performance by a Bedford Blues Women’s side ever secured their passage through to the Round of 32 in the RFU Junior Cup with a simply sensational 17-10 away victory against Stamford.
It’s a serious case of running out of superlatives for this side at the moment as they just keep marching on and smashing through every obstacle that is put in their way. It’s about as good as it could get at the moment and with two home games coming up – including next Sunday – let’s rally behind the team and pack out Goldington Road.
What is particularly impressive this season, and specifically in this game, is it’s a whole team performance. There are moments of individual brilliance, there always will be, but this is genuinely a 1-22 contribution.
Maybe there were two or three cogs in the wheel that if you lost them from the team last season, you were in trouble. You now panic whenever anyone is absent, everyone is just as important as the next player.
Long gone are the days where Player of the Match performances were easy to decide. Good luck to the coaches today, having to decide is going to be a difficult one. It could be any of them.
It was a performance that showed a real test of character and true spirit that this group of players have engrained within them. Credit to the coaches for instilling that, but they’ve still got to do it themselves when they cross the white line.
We’ve spoken already this season about playing without fear. You’d forgive them for worrying against a side who are scoring points for fun, averaging over 40 a game, but this was a real fire vs fire performance and they were on it from the first minute.
A game like this does show how critical having a competent kicker is but you’ve got to have players able to chase, get over the first breakdown and cause havoc in a split defence. It was almost telepathic today.
Lucy Middleton’s 12 points – completing three of the four scoring methods thanks to a try, two conversions and a penalty – set the tone and the team went about making sure that was enough.
A classy run from outside centre, Alyce Trude came as part of the side going 17-0 up. It wasn’t a shock to see them in the clear but away from home, you thought an accumulation of a healthy points tally would be more of a challenge than they made it look.
In defence, they were just as good. Some outstanding individual magic from the Stamford full-back Liberty Ashdown got them back into the proceedings as she waltzed through twice, but the moments of ascendency were so few and far between that they could never build up ahead of steam.
This was that good and you wonder what it’s going to take to stop them. Winnings a habit and they’re firmly in the mood at the moment. Cup draw confirmation still to come, but a date on 26th November secured.
Four games from Twickenham. Nothing is impossible.
Bedford Blues Women Starting XV:
15. Emma Graham, 14. Natalie Daly, 13. Izzy Parks, 12. Emma Hunter, 11. Amy Winter, 10. Lucy Middleton, 9. Esme Fish; 1. Hanah Donovan, 2. Alivia Usher-Harris, 3. Millie Rennell, 4. Cat Chambers, 5. Kelly Hodgson, 6. Megan Solomon, 7. Bex Young, 8. Sara Wright
Bedford Blues Replacements:
Lauren Mason, Steph-Sarah McPhillips, Elena Famiglietti, Heather Cousins, Abi Wilkin, Izzy Parks, Naomi Stockham
