Dogged Blues dig in to beat Moseley on horrid day
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RFU Championship Moseley 15 Bedford Blues 24
BEDFORD Blues recorded their first away win since November as they defeated Moseley 24-15 on a miserable afternoon in Birmingham, writes James Heneghan.
Torrential rain and blustery winds made for a scrappy game, but Bedford always looked a class above as they dominated possession and thoroughly deserved the victory.
Luka Baldwin was the star of the show with two fine tries, while Darren Fox and Gregor Gillanders also touched down to make sure of the bonus-point victory.
Bedford’s patience was the key to the victory as they worked the ball well, but didn’t panic even when the Moseley’s defence left them frustrated.
The Blues made seven changes for the encounter from the side that beat Pymouth Albion last week, with James Pritchard missing out through illness, while Baldwin started at scrum-half and Alex Rae captained the side.
Bedford made a strong start in the dreadful conditions as they totally dominated the opening 10 minutes but had nothing to show for it.
A muddy pitch made handling difficult but Bedford kept the ball well and should have taken the lead, but Jamie Lennard’s penalty attempt drifted well wide.
Moseley strugled to get out of their own half and barely touched the ball, but their sturdy defence kept dominant Blues out.
The Bedford try was inevitable, though, and it came in the 13th minute when Jon Fisher broke through to slip in Fox for the try, although Lennard once again scuffed his kick to leave Bedford with a 5-0 lead.
That try seemed to trigger Moseley into life and they finally put some pressure on the Blues defence and were inches away from levelling it up as a knock-on gave Bedford a scrum.
After being on the back foot for the entire first 15 minutes, Moseley were now the team making all the headway and kept Bedford penned inside their own half.
And the home side’s good play was rewarded when Glyn Hughes simply converted a straightforward penalty.
The match then came to a sudden halt when a line-judge went down and received treatment for what looked a serious injury that held up play for over five minutes.
The stoppage didn’t affect Bedford’s concentration, though, as it didn’t take them long to notch their second try.
After keeping the ball for several phases, Baldwin spotted the gap and sprinted through – beating several tackles to touch down under the posts, which gave Lennard a simple conversion.
It opened up a nine-point lead for Bedford as they looked to push on, but it was Moseley who kept the pressure on for the remainder of the half, although Bedford held firm.
The second half started sluggishly as neither side could find any rhythm, but Bedford slowly pushed Moseley further and further back before notching a third try.
Baldwin was the scorer again when he squeezed over from a yard out after a long spell of Blues pressure with Lennard adding the extras.
That appeared to put Bedford out of sight but Moseley hit straight back after the Blues gifted possession to their opponents before working it wide for Michael Ellery to score.
But Bedford remained composed and kept their nerve to dominate possession before grabbing the bonus-point try when Gillanders touched down following a powerful drive from a lineout.
Once again Bedford lost their concentration from the restart and Moseley scored their second try, which was a carbon copy of Bedford’s fourth.
A powerful drive from the line-out left Adam Caves to touch down and it was superbly converted by Hughes to set up a frantic finish with Bedford leading by nine points.
But the visitors had little trouble seeing out victory to record a much-needed away win.
Moseley: Marshall Gadd (Colin Quigley 57), Adam Caves, Craig Voisey, Paul Spivey, Richard Stott (C) (David Lyons 52), Neil Mason, Benjamin Pons (Michael Maltman 52), Michael Ellery, Ryan De La Harpe (Samuel Brown 61), Glyn Hughes, William Robinson, Gregory King, Bradley Hunt (Jack Adams 41), Anthony Carter, Oliver Thomas (Bradley Davies 61). Replacements not used: Anthony O’Donnell. T: Ellery, Caves. C: Hughes. P: Hughes.
Blues: Sam Walsh (Nico Steenkamp 70), Chris Locke (Neil Cochrane 48), Ben Cooper (Phil Boulton 40), Mike Howard, Alex Rae (C), Gregor Gillanders, Darren Fox, Jonathon Fisher (Paul Tupai 63), Luke Baldwin, Jamie Lennard, Ollie Dodge, Ian Vass, Henry Staff, Dave Vincent (Liebenberg 63), Brendan Burke. Replacements not used: Billy Johnson, Jake Sharp. T: Fox, Baldwin (2), Gillanders. C: Lennard 2.
Referee: Llyr Apgeraint Roberts.
Touch Judges: Will Halford and Paul Dickens.
Attendance: 879.
Star Blue: Luke Baldwin. Threatening throughout and scored two fine solo tries.
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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
