Bedford Blues bounce back to plunder from Cornish Pirates

Mike Rayer’s men have turned their Goldington Road home into a fortress in 2025 and they recovered again to ensure maximum points and stay second in the table.

Bedford forwards coach, Tom Cruse said: “It was great to get back to winning ways.

“We spoke about needing a reaction defensively but also at the breakdown in particular and we saw that in abundance. The most important thing is five points at home.”

Chester Ribbons ran home unopposed for Pirates after only 24 seconds, but the scores were soon brought level by Worley’s first of the day.

Matt McNab put Pirates back in front. But a sensational individual effort from Will Maisey – who also went 100 per cent off the tee including a drop goal conversion – and Worley’s second sent Bedford 10 points clear at the break.

After further scores from Louis James and Joe Howard, tries from Arthur Relton and Harry Yates briefly had Pirates back in it, but a Luke Frost score with the last play put the cherry on the cake.

Ampthill backed up last week's home win against Nottingham in style with a fine 27-22 win at Caldy.

Head coach Paul Turner said: “Caldy is always a tough place to go. We recovered well after a poor first half and were deserved winners in the end.”

Caldy surged into a 15 point, but the Ampthill pack controlled a scrum in the hosts’ 22 before Charlie Bracken sniped around to score in the corner before half-time.

Playing with the wind, Ampthill then took less than a minute to reduce the Caldy lead to three points, Rhys Marshall scoring under the posts, Louie Johnson converting.

Louie Johnson fired the Mob level with a penalty before the Ravers restored their lead. Another immediate response saw Josh Hallett reduce the deficit before Oran McNulty scored in the corner and a brilliant kick from the touchline won it for Ampthill.