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REPORT | Double delight for England Deaf
It was a fantastic afternoon of Deaf Rugby in Bedford and a double triumph for England including at Goldington Road to win the Broadstreet Cup against Wales.
The curtain raiser of the day saw England Deaf Women win 55-17 against a Bedford Blues Women Invitational XV while England Deaf Men won 50-17 against Wales Deaf Men.
England Deaf Women 55 - 17 Bedford Blues Women Invitational XV
Following the sad withdrawal of Wales Deaf Women earlier in the week, Bedford Blues Women formed an invitational XV to step in and fill the void and it was a cracker in the opening day of the game.
It probably showed that Blues hadn't played a game for six weeks - and with such short notice only partook in two training sessions before the contest - but they will have taken an awful lot from the game against international opponents.
Two of the guest players drafted in were the try scorers on the day, as Nat Randall scored twice and Laura Stephens added the other, while captain Lucy Middleton knocked over a conversion.
England too strong in the end as experience showed, but just fantastic to get a game on considering some of the challenegs posed during the week and scrambling a team together to compete.
England Deaf Men 50 - 17 Wales Deaf Men
Another great spectacle, this time at Goldington Road, as England regained the Broadstreet Cup with an emphatic victory over their Welsh counterparts. The result was in the balance at half-time, but England found another gear after the restart and from there, only one winner was likely.
While the Women's side were forced to cancel, the Men's side worked hard to get a team together to head across the border and that probably created somewhat of a disjointed performance, which England exploited to good effect.
A 10-9 scoreline at half-time had both sides in the game but the introduction of debutant Connor Oughton flipped the game completely and his two tries took the game away.
England scored eight in total with a penalty try coming alongside scores for Henry Bennett, Jack Slark, Sam Brabazon, Marcus Seaton and Max Thorne. Joe Healy kicked four conversions.
For Wales, they had their influential fly-half, Celyn Ashton to thank for most of the points as he kicked four from six penalties in an impressive individual score. Welsh captain, Ryan Challis dotted down a try to bring proceedings to a close.
A really special occasion at Goldington Road and hopefully more fixtures like this to follow.
Thank you to all 525 supporters who headed through the turnstiles to support the two nations.
