Poor Blues pay the penalty in Leeds loss
Bedford Blues head shots 2011-12. wk 34.
RFU Championship: Leeds Carnegie 21 Bedford Blues 17
BEDFORD Blues slumped to their fifth away defeat in a row as an ill-disciplined performance against Leeds Carnegie condemned them to a 21-17 loss on a horrid afternoon in Yorkshire, writes James Heneghan.
The rain was relentless throughout the match, but the Blues seemed to adapt well to conditions in the first half as they appeared in control at the interval with an 11-6 lead following a strong first half performance with Ian Vass scoring what turned out to be the only try of the match.
But Bedford gave away countless penalties after the break to slip to defeat with Tommy Bell kicking all of the home side’s points.
Bedford director of rugby Mike Rayer will be extremely frustrated with his side’s poor discipline that has plagued them all season, as well as their inconsistencies.
The Blues named a strong line-up for the match with several players returning from injury, including Jon Fisher who was fit enough for the bench.
Both sides made a cautious start on a dreadful looking pitch with neither team making much headway in the early stages.
However, Bedford struggled to keep their discipline right from the off and Leeds took advantage through a Bell penalty.
It didn’t take long for the visitors to level up the scores, though, as James Pritchard successfully converted a penalty from a tricky angle.
The torrential rain made handling difficult and the mistakes continue to rack up, this time Leeds gave away the penalty and Jake Sharp superbly converted from the halfway line.
The conditions made for a very scrappy encounter with most of the game being played in the middle third as both sides struggled to get into any kind of rhythm.
It was clear that neither side were prepared to play with the ball in hand as both teams kicked repeatedly.
Bell and Sharp had the chance to add to their points tallies but both missed by a fraction.
Bedford didn’t dwell on that miss though as they crossed the whitewash moments later. They drove forward with power before working the ball wide where Vass was on hand to crash over.
The conversion was missed but Bedford were all over the home side as they struggled to get out of their own half.
But they did manage to reduce the deficit with another Bell penalty, coming completely against the run of play.
With the rain continuing to pour down, conditions were made worse and worse and it resulted in a very fragmented match with knock-on after knock-on.
Bedford were the stronger side and controlled possession but couldn’t add to their lead before the break as they went in with a five-point advantage.
The visitors made a sluggish start to the second half and Leeds had all of the ball but Bedford defended well before adding to their lead with a Pritchard penalty.
That was quickly cancelled out, however, as Bell kicked his third penalty following more Carnegie possession.
Bedford struggled to get a foothold in the second half as Leeds dominated and reduced the arrears to two points with another Bell shot at goal.
The mistakes kept coming from Bedford as their discipline continued to let them down - as it has done all season - and it allowed the hosts to take the lead with yet another Bell penalty.
Brendan Burke was then sin-binned after being penalised once again and Bell gratefully accepted another three points.
The match looked to be getting away from Bedford, but Pritchard’s penalty brought them to within one point with a little over 10 minutes remaining.
However, it couldn’t halt the Leeds surge and Bell restored the four-point lead with his seventh penalty as the home side comfortably saw out victory.
Leeds: Gareth Denman, Andy Titterrell (Sott Freer 65), David Young (Sam Lockwood 59), Tom Denton (Jon Pendlebury 72), Sean Hohneck, Ryan Burrows, Richard Beck, Jacob Rowan (Mo Mustafa 54), Will Cliff, Joe Ford (Joe Barker 58), Pete Lucock, Scott Barrow, Iain Thornley, Lee Blackett, Tommy Bell. Replacements not used: Dan Hemingway, Robbie Shaw. P: Bell 7.
Blues: Sam Walsh (Nico Steenkamp 68), Neil Cochrane, Phil Boulton, Mike Howard, Sean Tomes (Don Barrell 57), Gregor Gillanders, Alex Rae, Paul Tupai (Jon Fisher 64), Stefan Liebenberg (Darryl Veenendaal 57), Jake Sharp, Josh Bassett, Ian Vass (Ollie Dodge 68), Brendan Burke, Mark Kohler, James Pritchard (C). Replacements not used: Chris Locke, Jamie Lennard. T: Vass. P: Pritchard 3, Sharp.
Referee: Dave Pearson.
Touch Judges: Andrew Jackson and Chris Sharp.
Attendance: 2,514.
Star Blue: Ian Vass. Was one of the few Bedford players who looked up for the fight and scored the only try of the game.
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Weather for Bedford
Tuesday 29 May 2012
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Temperature: 12 C to 19 C
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