Blues warm up a freezing Goldington Road with Albion victory
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RFU Championship: Bedford Blues 29 Plymouth Albion 17
BEDFORD Blues heated up the Goldington Road crowd with an accomplished performance that saw off Plymouth Albion 29-17 earlier today, writes James Heneghan.
On an afternoon where temperatures plummeted below zero, Bedford were in control throughout and deserved their bonus-point victory.
James Pritchard scored twice n the first half with Mike Howard also getting on the score sheet.
Bedford kept up the pressure after the break with a try for Mark Kohler before Plymouth hit back with two late tries, but it was too little too late as Bedford wrapped up the win.
The Blues made six changes from the defeat at Leeds with new signings Darren Fox and Ben Cooper making their debuts among the forwards.
Despite the freezing weather, Bedford made a strong start and opened the scoring inside three minutes.
They worked the ball well and kept their patience before Brendan Burke made a break, beating three men before playing in Pritchard for the try.
The Canadian full-back converted it himself before Plymouth produced their first meaningful attack of their game after Bedford were hesitant at the restart.
After keeping the ball well, the visitors looked to have hit back with a try of their own only for a last-ditch tackle to save Bedford.
However, Albion remained on the front foot and pushed the Blues back, but the home side’s defence stood firm, although Plymouth should have reduced the arrears but James Love inexcusably missed a simple penalty.
The match then turned scrappy with little fluidity from either side, but Albion did manage to get on the scoreboard through a Love penalty.
Both sides struggled to create any momentum in a fragmented and sluggish contest as most of the game was fought in the middle third.
However, Bedford always looked threatening with the pace they possess and so it proved when Pritchard scored a superb solo try after he latched on to his chip over the top.
Pritchard missed the conversion but Bedford had finally found their stride as they dominated the rest of the half and racked up their third try when Howard bundled over following more patient Bedford pressure.
Pritchard made no mistake this time and his conversion meant Bedford took a 19-3 lead into half time.
The cold weather seemed to take its toll on the players after the break with the game being played at a very slow tempo as neither side looked threatening.
But the hosts looked the stronger of the two sides and applied a sustained period of relentless pressure only for a knock-on to prevent them breaking through, despite Rupert Freestone being yellow carded.
It mattered little though, as Bedford didn’t take long to get the bonus point when Kohler powered his way over in the corner after the Blues had worked it well down the right.
Pritchard converted superbly and Bedford appeared in complete control, although Plymouth showed plenty of spirit to reduce the gap with a try from Sione Ipulotu after he skipped through two loose Bedford tackles.
Albion reached double figures with Love’s conversion, but Bedford’s cushion was still 16 points with less than ten minutes remaining.
Plymouth again caught Bedford out with another patient move as Paul Bailey breezed through the Bedford defence to touch down.
Love converted well to close the gap to nine points and provide the Goldington Road crowd with a few jitters in the closing minutes.
But the tension was quickly lifted when Bedford powered forward in search of a fifth try, although they had to settle for just the three points with a Pritchard penalty.
That was enough though for Bedford to comfortably secure another important victory with only two games of the regular season left.
Blues: Sam Walsh, Neil Cochrane (Nico Steenkamp 67), Ben Cooper (Phil Boulton 46), Mike Howard, Sean Tomes (Sam Pailor 60), Gregor Gillanders, Darren Fox, Don Barrell (Jon Fisher 65), Darryl Veenendaal (Stefan Liebenberg 71), Jamie Lennard (Jake Sharp 65), Ollie Dodge, Ian Vass (Henry Staff 60), Brendan Burke, Mark Kohler, James Pritchard (C). T: Pritchard 2, Howard, Kohler C: Pritchard 3. P: Pritchard.
Albion: David Morton, Rupert Freestone, Jack Andrew (Michael Stupple 52), Addison Lockley (Rob Dugard 52), Daniel Collier, Sam Hocking (David McGregor 62), Wayne Sprangle (James Harris 77), Aaron Carpenter (C), Ruairi Cushion (Paul Rowley 71), Paul Roberts, Steve Johns (Tyson Lewis 62), Sione Ipulotu, Bevan Armitage, Pail Bailey, James Love. Replacements not used: Ryan Hopkins. T: Ipulotu, Bailey. C: Love 2. P: Love.
Referee: Greg MacDonald.
Touch Judges: Richard Kelly and Steve Leyshan.
Star Blue: Mike Howard. Powerful performance rounded off with a try.
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Weather for Bedford
Tuesday 29 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
Temperature: 12 C to 19 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Light showers
Temperature: 12 C to 21 C
Wind Speed: 9 mph
Wind direction: South west
