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REPORT | Blues win in style against Pirates
Will Maisey became just the sixth man in history to score 1,000 points for Bedford Blues as they completed the league double over Cornish Pirates with a dominant 36-12 display at Goldington Road.
It was a game in which Mike Rayer’s men didn’t actually have the ball all that much, preferring to pounce on the Pirates mistakes, and they were rock solid in defence to add to a ruthless streak in attack that meant they scored from virtually every venture up the field.
Blues Assistant Coach, Jim Henry said: “A very tough day. We spent a long time without the ball, down to 14 for two periods, but the lads fronted up defensively.
“We managed to put a lot of pressure on the lineout and stole a lot of ball off Pirates in that. We put ourselves under pressure from the word go really, but a couple of really big moments in the first half turned it around.
“We gave some really cheap penalties away, so that’s something we’ll look at, but credit to the lads with how they reacted to those and got themselves back on the line and defended for their lives.”
Blues were under pressure from the word go, knocking on first kick-off receipt, but Pirates couldn’t turn possession into points, and Rayer’s charges sat patiently waiting for their moment to counter.
Fyn Brown and Lucas Titherington both crossed in quick succession to help open up a 17-0 lead, before Pirates did finally find some points through Sol Moody.
A classic Dean Adamson try before the break, thanks to a lovely grubber kick through from Michael Le Bourgeois gave the hosts a healthy lead at the break.
Again Pirates posed the questions after the break through phase after phase of attack, Blues allowing discipline issues to again creep in, conceding 10 penalties and two yellow cards in that second half, but the visitors kept coughing up the ball.
They couldn’t make Bedford pay when Oisin Heffernan, who had scored a couple of minutes earlier, went to the bin – but they did manage another driving maul score for Alex Everett to dot down when George Worth saw a harsh yellow brandished his way.
Bedford again weathered the storm and put together a real party piece to end the contest, Maisey crossing himself after a lovely sweeping move that saw pretty much every Bedford player involved at some point in the sequence.
Player of the match, Maisey said: “It’s a great club to play for and to get 1,000 points is massive and I’m extremely proud of that accolade. Here’s to another 1,000!”
