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2024/25 – A Season in Statistics
A best league finish for 13 years ensured it was another extremely positive campaign for Mike Rayer and his charges as they again showcased more rugby for the ages and made it a thoroughly enjoyable spell watching the team.
There were memorable moments throughout, and not just in victory, with Will Maisey’s last gasp penalty the perfect crescendo to the campaign, averaging close to 3,000 at men’s home matches, another superb Ladies Day and much more to name but a few.
As we prepare to bring the curtain down and start turning our attentions to next season, which sees a rebrand of the league and its structure, read some of the Bedford statistics you may have missed during the campaign…
Club Statistics
Throughout the 2024/25 Championship campaign, a total of 29 competitive Bedford Blues matches were played spread across league, cup and the pre-season Mobbs Memorial Match against Northampton Saints.
Mike Rayer’s side won on 20 occasions, while suffering nine defeats. Highlights include a perfect set of Derby Day victories against Ampthill, another away victory down at Pirates and an unbelievable fortress record at Goldington Road – ending the campaign with the best home record in the Championship.
Blues were only defeated on home soil by the side ranked top of the Premiership and Championship tables across all competitions, beating top-flight opposition for the second season in succession.
Across the campaign, Bedford Blues scored a grand total of 140 tries across all competitions – 39 more than last season. Included within that are 13 Try of the Week wins in league competition – more than all the other Championship teams combined – as Blues again scored more tries for the ages when showcasing edge of your seat action.
A total of 44 players made one or more competitive appearance for Bedford Blues throughout the season, including 20 debutants.
Displaying the free flowing, attacking hallmarks of a Rayer side again in 2024/25; Blues secured a try bonus point in 17 of 22 league fixtures, the second best in the division behind the champions.
Blues were also second-best travellers in the second tier with seven victories out of 11 on the road, again only Ealing Trailfinders (10) had more.
Rayer’s men finished the campaign with seven successive bonus point victories, their largest winning streak of the season. Doncaster actually put together the best sequence (10) with Ealing in second with nine.
Most Appearances
Four players featured in every competitive fixture in 24/25; namely Joey Conway, Luke Frost, Oisin Heffernan and Will Maisey.
29 – Joey Conway, Luke Frost, Oisin Heffernan, Will Maisey; 28 – Jamie Jack, Louis James; 27 – Lucas Titherington, Michael Le Bourgeois; 26 – Tommy Herman; 25 – Joe Howard
Most Minutes on the Field
A player could have played a maximum of 2,320 minutes in the 24/25 campaign with Will Maisey ending as Blues’ ‘Ironman’ owing to playing the most minutes this season.
Will Maisey – 2,241; Louis James – 1991; Luke Frost – 1818; Fred Tuilagi – 1757; Michael Le Bourgeois - 1709
Top Try Scorers
22 – Dean Adamson; 14 – Louis James, Matt Worley; 10 – Fred Tuilagi
Top Points Scorers
284 – Almost doubling his tally from 23/24, Will Maisey tops the charts for Blues in 2024/25. 235 of those points came in the Championship as he finished as the league’s top marksman.
110 – A season where Dean Adamson pretty much broke all the records possible – becoming not only Bedford’s greatest ever try scorer, but the Championship overall as well. His tally of 20 in the league also saw him finish top of the charts, one ahead of Donny’s Jordan Olowofela.
Notable Appearance Milestones
200 – Another accolade to add to the list for Deano as he celebrated his 32nd birthday with a huge milestone v Nottingham in April.
100 – Four new entrants into the century club this season as club captain Alex Day, Joey Conway, Will Maisey and Matt Worley all ascended past the milestone.
50 – Ed Prowse became the first Northampton Saints dual reg player to surpass the first notable appearance milestone, while the quintet of Jac Arthur, James Fish, Jamie Jack, Oisin Heffernan and Alex Woolford also followed suit.
Other Interesting Notes
- October’s victory over Cornish Pirates was a third in succession down in Penzance, a club record streak on the Cornwall coast.
- The 87 points haul against Nottingham was the joint highest of Mike Rayer’s tenure (the previous occasion against Stirling County in October 2012).
- The longest serving Director of Rugby in the game, Rayer, completed his 20th season in charge.
- First time either Bedford or Ampthill have gone four from four on Derby Day in a single season.
