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MATCH FOCUS | Franklin’s Gardens awaits
Bedford Blues will be looking for the best possible end to their pre-season schedule when they make the short trip across to Cinch Stadium at Franklin’s Gardens to face our Premiership Champions, Northampton Saints under the Friday Night Lights (KO 19:45).
You can still buy tickets here from our hosts for our first away voyage of the new season.
Big Game Preview
Mike Rayer’s charges will be looking to continue building in their third and final pre-season fixture following strong showings at Goldington Road against Blackheath and Saracens in recent weeks. Anothey key opportunity to blood in the new signings, continue building new partnerships and implement the ‘Blues way’ for the Championship season ahead.
Blues Starting XV: Worley, A Garside, Titherington, Le Bourgeois (C), Adamson, Maisey, Lennon; Conway, Langdon, Heffernan, Ward, Woolford, Frost, Arthur, King. Replacements: Herman, Jack, O’Connor, Kerry, Benson, Tuilagi, J Garside, Glister, Matavesi, Elliott, Cousins, James
Northampton will also be contesting their final warm up game as they prepare to defend their Premiership crown from next weekend. They are backed by the return of their international superstars for the clash, and will mix that stardust with further experience throughout the squad and exciting youngsters ready to make their mark.
Saints Starting XV: Furbank (C), Sleightholme, Dingwall, Hutchinson, Ramm, F Smith, Mitchell; West, R Smith, Green, Hunter-Hill, Scott-Young, Pollock, Kemeny, Brown. Replacements: Langdon, Wright, Haffar, Davison, Millar Mills, Prowse, Ainsworth-Cave, Perkins, Logan, James, McParland, Savala, Witheat, Va’enuku, Thame, Seabrook
We’ve Met Before
Unsurprisingly considering the distance between the clubs, Northampton are the side who Bedford have faced on the most occasions, having contested 213 previous fixtures. Saints currently dominate the head-to-head record with 131 wins to Bedford’s 67, while there have been 15 draws.
A fixture with over 135 years of history, the two sides first met on 15th January 1887 when Blues were victorious at home. The two sides last met this time last year at Goldington Road; Blues again taking the spoils courtesy of a 33-24 comeback success.
Mobbs Memorial Match
One of rugby’s oldest annual fixtures, the Mobbs Memorial Match began in 1921 and honours Saints legend, World Rugby Hall-of-Fame inductee, and World War One hero, Edgar Mobbs – who made two guest appearances for Bedford in the early 1900s.
The match has always supported the charitable aims of the Mobbs Memorial Fund, which promotes the development of age-group rugby throughout the East Midlands by way of grants to clubs within the East Midlands Rugby Union – and this will continue within the fixture’s new format. For full details on how to contribute towards the charity’s fundraising efforts on Friday, please click here to head to the Northampton website for confirmed details.
Matchday Coverage
Franklin’s Gardens is calling but if you’re not heading with us, we’ve got you covered! Continue to show your support by joining in the conversation on matchday. Send us your photos and messages using #BluesFamily across all our social media platforms.
We are anticipating this game to be available via a FREE live stream from our friends over at Northampton. Please stay tuned to social media in the run in to kick-off as we still await final confirmation and details.
Head to ‘X’ formerly known as Twitter for our live feed and much more, including post-game video features and the result of the Followers Man of the Match award. Pre-game checkout our Instagram channel for live content as the teams arrive.
Don’t forget, tickets remain available from our hosts simply by clicking here.
