Late fightback sees Bedford Blues earn a rare draw
Despite hosts Nottingham holding a 21 point lead after three quarters of the game, Bedford Blues battled back to earn a 28-28 draw on Friday night.
It was a superb finish for the visitors, but they will feel they should not have been in that position.
Dominant in the first half yet wasteful in attack, they laid the platform for a tilt at the full five points but kept falling off before clinging on at the end for a first draw since February 2023.
The Blues had won five on the trot coming into the match but won't really know how important this result was until the end of the season.
As well as George Worth’s important score right at the death, Blues trio Rory Ward, Oisin Heffernan and Tommy Herman also crossed the whitewash, Will Maisey with the conversions.
There was just time for the restart after Worth's try. Nottingham regained possession and were pushing for the winning score, but Blues held firm just outside their 22 until a misplaced pass out of play meant both sides took three points.
Bedford will now want to respond and get back to winning ways this weekend.
That will be tough in itself as Cambridge are fighting for everything at the moment and will love nothing more than ending a long history of winless years against Bedford.
Ampthill fought hard with 14 men for the whole of the second half, but fell to a 31-21 home defeat against Hartpury on Saturday.
An eventful first half had a chaotic end, with Hartpury levelling the match at 14-14 at half-time with their second score of the match, but Ampthill were reduced to 13 men following a yellow card to Olamide Sodeke and a straight red for Totoa Auvaa for throwing a punch.
The red card at the end of the first half seemed to shift the momentum towards Hartpury, and they took control, scoring two tries in the opening 25 minutes of the second half to secure the try bonus point and take a commanding 14 point lead.
Captain on the day Charles Rylands said: “We fronted up in the first half really well, but it’s tough to win any game when you have 14 men for so long.”
Mob try scorers were Harrison Courtney, Josh Barton and Valentino Mapapalangi with conversions from Louis Grimoldby and Finn Keylock.