News
REPORT | Blues edge epic against Doncaster
A true game for the ages as Bedford Blues and Doncaster Knights went toe to toe against each other with blood and thunder for 80 minutes; Mike Rayer's men prevailing 36-32 at Goldington Road.
If you ever wanted to showcase just why so many people love Champ Rugby, show everyone this game. It had everything a scriptwriter is looking for - high octane action, drama, cliffhangers, heart in mouth moments all under the scarily good setting of a Halloween inspired Goldington Road.
It could have gone either way. Neither side deserved to lose. Doncaster were well worthy of their two points and would make a valid claim for having more. It was an epic.
This fixture has the weird anomaly of being the one with the least amount of away wins over the past decade - just one, Doncaster's win here in 2017 - and so it went to tradition as the home side again came out on top.
Blues Forwards Coach, Cameron Boon said: “The boys just had a brilliant attitude – tracking back 80m to stop a long break in defence on multiple occasions. If we can keep up things like that then we’ll make ourselves a difficult team to beat.”
Bedford will be honest in their review and admit they were not at the races in the opening 20 minutes and Doncaster made them pay to lead 0-15. Former Blue, Ryan Olowofela cut through a non existent defence in the opening phases, before Ollie Fox scampered home.
Russell Bennett, who had earlier kicked a penalty and a conversion, hit the post with another three point opportunity and you sensed that might be a momentum swing as Doncaster were doing everything right, and Blues everything wrong.
This is a Bedford side who can score from anywhere, building back into things with a trademark Dean Adamson dive for the line.
When Ehize Ehizode saw yellow for a deliberate knock on, Blues sensed this was their moment and they went bang, bang, bang with three quickfire tries to have a 26-15 lead at the break.
It'll be an interesting #BedfordBluesTryOfTheWeek competition with some silky hands sending Lucas Titherington to the line, while Adamson got a second showcasing his footballing abilities and James Lennon went over from close range.
Doncaster had won the toss pre-game and chose to go down the slope in the second half and they again started like a train to retake the lead on the hour thanks to Bennett's individual effort and George Roberts off the back of a maul.
A Will Maisey penalty edged Bedford back in-front before the showstopping moment of the night as with the line at their mercy, Doncaster couldn't go through the hands and Ryan Hutler pounced an intercept to sprint the length.
But back came Doncaster and although the scoreboard showed 80 minutes had elapsed, after Ben Chapman dotted down, there was still time for a restart.
Bedford had to be disciplined and they went through phase after phase of defensive work before forcing the knock on and with it, the five points were secured to retain their place in the Champ Rugby play-offs. One of the great contests, just not ideal for the blood pressure.
Doncaster Head Coach, Darren Fearn commented: “There’s two overriding emotions – pride and frustration. I feel like we gave points away too easily, leading 15-0 and then a couple of rash decisions see us lose somebody and Bedford score three tries – which is something we knew they could do.”
