Cambridge scare, but Bedford Blues battle back for win
Cambridge gave high-flying Bedford Blues an almighty scare but were denied a first Champ Rugby win of the season thanks to a second half comeback from the home side as Blues won 29-28 at Goldington Road.
The visitors were in dreamland with a 21-10 advantage at the break, but Blues had stacked the bench should they require it, and those replacements did the job to edge a Derby Day thriller.
Forwards coach, Cameron Boon said: “Cambridge threw everything at us, and they dominated the breakdown and jackal game.
“They put a lot of pressure on us, and we didn’t help ourselves.
“We just didn’t have the urgency to deal with it, but we’ll make sure that’s fixed up for next week. The pleasing part was the same as last week; the boys showed a lot of character and kept going. But we can’t keep putting ourselves into positions such as this.
“We know we have to get ourselves into a much better place for two really tough games coming up, Pirates and Worcester. We have to start winning physical battles.”
Bedford made eight changes, but all seemed according to the league positions when they raced into a 10-0 lead thanks to tries from Archie Benson and James Lennon.
But Cambridge were good value all day and turned it round for a strong half-time lead and a penalty try saw Bedford lose Rory Ward for the start of the second half.
The home side weathered the storm and unleashed their bench to good effect.
Tui Uru reduced the deficit out wide, before they re-took the lead through Tommy Herman’s driving run before Fred Tuilagi then crossed after 78 minutes.
But Cambridge again had other ideas and got the two points their performance deserved after Blues were overturned on the floor, Edward Timpson eventually crossing.
Ampthill head coach Dave Ward was delighted with his team's performance after watching a last play 25-20 win at Richmond.
“It wasn’t a pretty game of rugby but it was a lot of hard work, a lot of endeavour and I thought the forwards at the end were outstanding to get that maul over from 15m,” he said.
“It’s a fantastic result for us”
On a wet surface, a training ground catch and drive try from 10m, converted from the touchline gave the hosts a 7-0 lead.
Ampthill were level five minutes later. Having knocked on in attack, the Mob forced the Richmond scrum back towards the line and the referee awarded a penalty try before Amptill touched the ball down.
Richmond soon restored their lead through a defensive error but the conversion was missed.
A Louis Grimoldby penalty into the wind then came back off the posts.
The Mob came out firing for the second period and their patient game paid off when a penalty gave Louis an opportunity to find the corner and Seb Smith scored from a rolling maul masterclass. With Louis off for a HIA, Josh Barton stepped up to convert.
On 54 minutes Barton extended the lead before Richmond again drew level, missing the conversion. And it was 17 v 17 with 16 mins to play.
Richmond may have thought they’d won the game with a 77th minute penalty.
However Ampthill won the ball back from the restart and won a penalty of their own, calmly scored by Josh to again level the game.
The Ampthill defence held firm against the hosts final waves of attack and with the clock in the red Ampthill were awarded a penalty on their own 40m line.
Finn Keylock kicked deep into the Richmond 22 and from there the Mob forwards took their opportunity to win the game, James Isaacs forcing the ball down.