Supporters asked to pitch in as Blues cover up for Albion
MBTC-01-02-12-Bedford Blues covered pitch
A GIANT pitch cover costing several thousand pounds has been hired in by the Bedford Blues in a bid to get Saturday’s match on against Plymouth Albion, writes Mark Wood.
Goldington Road is set for an 11am pitch inspection tomorrow (Friday) but the Blues are hopeful of getting the game to go ahead and are urging supporters to come along at 11am on Saturday morning to help them remove the covers.
Terry Statton from Amorco Transport sent out a lorry to pick the covers up and staff and players spent a couple of hour laying them out in the week.
Director of rugby Mike Rayer said: “It’s the first time since I’ve been here that we’ve had the whole pitched covered. To be fair to the chairman he acted pretty quickly yesterday and we got the cover down just in time.
“It’s looking good for the game this weekend and the ground’s perfect underneath.
“The lads and everybody else mucked in. The chief exec was out there too and anyone who was available around the club. The players put it out last night before training.
“What we need now is some volunteers geared up for 11 o’clock to help shift them all off. It will take a big effort to get them all off.”
On the pitch, the Blues look set to hand freshly-signed Cambridge duo Ben Cooper and Darren Fox debuts, either in the starting XV or from the bench, while Paul Tupai is ruled out.
Rayer continued: “Toops is out this weekend. He had a whiplash injury at the weekend and needs a couple of weeks off to get over that.
“We will be looking to get Darren Fox and Ben Cooper involved. We will see how the week progresses.
“There will be changes but we haven’t finalised anything at the moment.
“Our half-backs, we have to keep them playing and try and keep everyone topped up with some game time.
“It’s a question of keeping the four lads rotating and getting enough rugby so they are ready to go at any particular time.
“Up front it’s what kind of balance we get in the back-row. Jon Fisher, whether we continue to nurse him or start him, we haven’t decided yet.”
Despite struggling in the league, Plymouth have picked up some impressive scalps and Rayer praised their fortitude, saying: “They’ve done remarkably well really, although they are still struggling a bit on the road.
“Considering the uncertainty surrounding their financial situation they’ve made a really good fist of it. But it sometimes galvanises the squad and and you get some real good battling performances.”
But he wants to his side to continue their recent good home form and is still just looking to take it one game at a time until the end of the season.
Rayer added: “All we ever set out to do is win the next game. The others will work out themselves when they come around.”
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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
