Blues skipper hails impressive fight-back against the Scarlets

Bedford Blues captain Nick Fenton- Wells praised his team's performance after they battled back in the second half to secure their place in the quarter-finals of the British & Irish Cup.
Bedford Blues captain Nick Fenton-Wells. Picture (c) June EssexBedford Blues captain Nick Fenton-Wells. Picture (c) June Essex
Bedford Blues captain Nick Fenton-Wells. Picture (c) June Essex

Despite trailing 14-21 at half-time to the Scarlets Select XV, the Blues fought hard to secure an important victory with two tries in the last five minutes.

Fenton-Wells said: “The boys stepped up to the plate in the second half, we carried on playing our game and it’s fair to say it paid off in the end.

“We made a lot of errors in the first half, we didn’t look after possession enough and it proved costly.

“We switched on during the late stages of the first half, but unfortunately they scored a try late on but we carried on and stuck to our guns.

“After half-time we could spot the gaps opening up in the pitch and thankfully we exploited that, along with holding our own defence.”

The Blues went in to the game on Saturday afternoon knowing a win over the Scarlets would guarantee them a place in the quarter-finals of the competition, but they had to rely on other results going their way to guarantee a home fixture in the next round.

Captain Fenton-Wells came on as replacement for Joel Conlon who went off in the 27th minute through injury, but the South African skipper still managed to get his name on the scoresheet with a converted try in the 50th minute.

Fenton-Wells added: “At half-time we assessed the situation with the Scarlets defence and well done to the boys for sticking to the game plan.

“We faced problems in the breakdown as they had boys who were getting over the ball quicker than we were and they made life very difficult for us in that area.

“We’re happy to come out with the win and all we can do now is focus on our next game against the London Welsh next weekend”.