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REPORT | Seventh Heaven on Derby Day
Bedford Blues ran in 33 unanswered points in a destructive second half to bring down the curtain on 2024 with a thumping 50-7 victory over Cambridge.
It was the perfect performance befitting of a 5,000 crowd with Mike Rayer’s side well and truly putting on a show for all those in attendance, Dean Adamson moving up to 138 Bedford tries in the process after grabbing a double.
Blues end a fourth successive calendar year in winning style following Boxing Day successes against Jersey and Ampthill in 2021 and 2022 respectively, plus another success against the Mob away from home last year.
What the team will now want to do is start a year in the winners enclosure too – something they sadly didn’t mange to do this time around in 2024.
Blues Assistant Coach, Jim Henry said: “The boys stepped up for a comfortable victory. We probably left a few points out there as well, but we got our rewards in the end. We’ll have a bit of a break now with the three-week gap in fixtures, but then it’s straight back for two important home games against Ampthill and Coventry.”
Cambridge were good value in the first half and caused a lot of problems. But they did run out of steam somewhat after Ben Brownlie capped his 100th Blood & Sand appearance with a driving maul score.
Blues hit back to lead 17-7 at the break thanks to Joey Conway’s quick snipe and Adamson’s first. If that set the tone, it was party time in the second half as everything Blues touched turned to a try with some absolute Christmas Crackers to delight the home faithful.
Adamson’s second was a work of beauty – the trio of Matt Worley, Jake Garside and Will Maisey all with clever runs before unleashing the try machine down the slope.
Joe Howard, Ed Prowse and Lucas Titherington also got in on the act to complete the scoring.
A word to finish for Cambridge Director of Rugby, Richie Williams after the announcement two weeks that he’d be departing following the contest. An excellent job from the Welshman bringing Cambridge to the second tier for the first time in history and from us at Bedford, we really do wish Richie well in his next venture.
But for Bedford, a fantastic win to remain third in the Championship and just a point behind Coventry. Two massive games coming up and after this sellout, don’t miss out. Buy your tickets here.
*Matchday Photography by Simon Fraser & Jonathan Paice*
