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REPORT | Historic win over Worcester
Bedford Blues put in one of their best performances in recent memory as they leapfrogged Worcester Warriors into second place of Champ Rugby with a bonus point 35-19 victory at Goldington Road.
The first half in particular was about as good as you'll ever see as Blues stunned their opponents with a fearless display - tearing them apart in the scrum and controlling every single facet of the game. It was a monumental team effort, and Michael Le Boureois and Louis James both profited to score doubles for a 28-0 half-time lead.
It was poetry in motion, a delight to watch, and just goes to show what this team can do when they get into their groove. To a man, they were outstanding and will sink a cold ones to celebrate what is a monumental achievement.
Second at Christmas, secodn at Christmas... We can watch the snow fall forever and ever.
It also went to again illustrate just why the team was changed in recent weeks, even despite the doubters. Rest and rotation is important. Players had to be ready to go toe to toe with Pirates at the Mannaye Field, players had to be ready for the challenge of Worcester. 15 points out of 15 since making eight changes to the team proves that the methodology was right from the start.
Tough challenges lie ahead and it was interesting to see just how quickly the squad were talking about Boxing Day. Yes, they'll enjoy tonight and so they should, but there's a sellout game to contest on Friday and Richmond have been a bit of a bogey side for Bedford.
Such was the performance levels in the first half of this one, that it was always going to be tough to replicate that in the second half. Finally the forwards got their reward as Tui Uru went crashing over for the fifth and final Bedford score, as Will Maisey went 5/5 off the tee after hitting the 2,000 points career milestone last week.
Worcester were improved after the restart, you have to give them credit for that. But the performance was that good from Bedford such that they got what they deserved at the final whistle, a full five point swing, with Worcester managing three consolation scores to get the scoreboard moving.
First ever league victory over Worcester and the best Christmas present our #BluesFamily could have asked for.
A delighted assistant coach, Jim Henry said: “Really pleased. The lads dug in, probably the best first half performance that I can remember here. We had a fantastic platform from the lads up front and took advantage of that.
“We won’t get too carried away after a couple of good performances. We have to keep turning up and showing our best selves, another tough challenge coming up on Boxing Day against Richmond.”
Man of the Match, Le Bourgeois added: “It’s good to see the heart and desire from the boys. This game was hyped up massively, second v third, and hopefully we’ve done the crowd that turned up proud.
“Off the back of a good performance down in Pirates, the message has been to back it up and I thought the forwards were outstanding and fair play to them for that. Always nice to get on the scoresheet, pretty rare for me personally. We’re building something special here and hopefully we can continue progressing.”
