News

REPORT | Blues valiant in Saracens defeat

Posted: 6th September 2024

An Andy Onyeama-Christie inspired Saracens survived an almighty scare at Goldington Road before putting Bedford Blues to the sword late on in a 47-17 triumph.

In the end, the scoreline got away from the Championship side but they were more than a match against superior opposition for the majority of the contest, and backed by over 3,500 supporters, almost sprung an upset.

Mike Rayer’s men led 17-7 just after the break but ultimately couldn’t match the Premiership side in terms of intensity for the full 80 minutes, although they’ll feel proud of holding their own for so long.

Bedford Director of Rugby, Rayer added: “Over the full 80 minutes, a really tough battle and you’d probably expect Sarries to put a bit of icing on the cake at the end. But nevertheless, delighted with the lads for their physicality and lots of positives to take.

“We’ve worked on things a lot these past few weeks to ensure we were ready to face Premiership opposition in back-to-back weeks. Some of that came good tonight and it’s about finding that consistency ready for the league campaign.

“We’ll be okay if we find that physicality shown tonight.”

Onyeama-Christie scored twice on the night, as part of seven tries in total, in what felt like a one-man crusade.

Tom Willis opened the scoring with a nice snipe from the base, before Bedford turned things on its head to lead at the break through tries by Jac Arthur and Luke Frost.

When Jake Garside extended the lead with his first touch following a half-time introduction, and Alex Lozowski was binned for chatting back to the referee, it looked like all the momentum was with the home side.

But after Brandon Jackson ran the distance following a Bedford knock on to halve the deficit, the floodgates started to open, and Saracens scored 40 unanswered points to dominate the scoreboard.

Onyeama-Christie’s first levelled the scoring before a penalty try edged them in-front. Josh Hallett and Angus Hall added gloss to the performance late on.

*Matchday Photography by Claire Jones and Kie Fewster*

Teams

BEDFORD BLUES

15. Louis James (40'), 14. Alfie Garside (40'), 13. Lucas Titherington (52'), 12. Michael Le Bourgeois (40'), 11. Dean Adamson (62'), 10. Joel Matavesi, 9. Alex Day (C) (52'); 1. Jamie Jack (40'), 2. Tommy Herman (40'), 3. Bryan O'Connor (40'), 4. Rory Ward (40'), 5. Alex Woolford, 6. Luke Frost, 7. Jac Arthur (52'), 8. Fred Tuilagi (66')

Replacements

Nathan Langdon (40'), Joey Conway (40'), Oisin Heffernan (40'), Jacob Wells (66'), Kieran Perkins, Cameron King (40'), James Lennon (52'), Will Maisey (40'), Pat Tapley (62'), Jamie Elliott (52'), Jake Garside (40'), Matt Worley (40')

SARACENS

15. Elliot Daly, 14. Tobias Elliott, 13. Alex Lozowski, 12. Nick Tompkins, 11. Brandon Jackson, 10. Fergus Burke, 9. Ivan van Zyl (C); 1. Phil Brantingham, 2. Theo Dan, 3. Ollie Hoskins, 4. Harry Wilson, 5. Hugh Tizard, 6. Andy Onyeama-Christie, 7. Toby Knight, 8. Tom Willis

Replacements:

Samson Adejimi, Sam Crean, Harvey Beaton, Olamide Sodeke, Reggie Hammick, Charlie Bracken, Louie Johnson, Rotimi Segun, Max Eke, Josh Hallett, Angus Hall, Jack Bracken, Oscar Wilson