Bedford Blues stun table-topping Ealing Trailfinders with fine win on the road

Blues have struggled on the road since the turn of the year but were outstanding at Ealing and assistant coach Jim Henry said: “All the bits which require no talent we managed to dominate, and a lot of our scores came off that hard work in those areas. I am extremely proud of the lads.

“In the second half, we were under a fair amount of pressure, but we knew the task at hand and we managed to hold them out a number of times on the line.

“Everyone knows how dangerous Ealing are and we knew if we let them get at us one v one then we’d be in trouble. We defended as a unit, stayed connected, and deserved what we got from the game.”

Ealing started much the better and were quickly three tries to the good, but Bedford stayed in the fight as two Will Maisey penalties kept the scoreboard ticking.

An opportunistic first try of the afternoon from Fyn Brown made it 17-11 at the break.

Just like Ealing in the first, Blues were themselves scoring inside 30 seconds of the restart through Alex Day.

Ealing’s Dan Jones soon saw yellow for offside as Bedford turned the screw and Brown got his second to put the visitors in front.

Back to 15 men, they couldn’t keep Bedford out again and they secured the bonus point score when some outrageous individual skill from Alfie Garside put star man, Fred Tuilagi under the sticks.

Tom Collins did pull one back, but they couldn’t find another score against 14 men as Blues saw the game out well.

Neighbours Ampthill also continued their fine form in the Championship since the turn of the year, recording their fourth win in their last five games, scoring six tries in a convincing 38-19 victory against London Scottish on The Olney Field.

Head coach Paul Turner said: “We certainly backed up the win against Coventry last week.

“We made a few errors in the second half.

“But the game, which you can’t normally say, was probably won by half time because we were clinical in the first half. It’s a good win for us, and I’m really pleased for the players.”

The Mob secured the try bonus three minutes before half-time to take a commanding 26-0 lead into the break.

Ampthill flew out of the blocks at the start of the second half, extending their lead to 31-0 just two minutes after the restart.

London Scottish responded well, scoring their first try of the match just three minutes after conceding.

The game became error-strewn in the last 20 minutes, but the visitors reduced the deficit further to 31-12.

The sides exchanged converted tries in the final five minutes to conclude the scoring.

Ampthill tries came from Josh Barton, Jack Bracken (2), Harrison Courtney, Brandon Jackson, and Roan Frostwick with four conversions for Barton.