Maisey milestone as he reaches 1,000 points in Bedford Blue win
Will Maisey became just the sixth man in history to score 1,000 points for Bedford Blues as a 36-12 home win completed the league double over Cornish Pirates last weekend.
Maisey said: “It’s a great club to play for and to get 1,000 points is massive and I’m extremely proud of that accolade. Here’s to another 1,000!”
Meanwhile, neighbours Ampthill scored over 60 points for the second straight weekend to secure an emphatic 61-17 victory over Doncaster Knights on the Olney Field to leapfrog the Knights in the Champ Rugby table.
Bedford didn’t actually have much of the ball in their game, preferring to pounce on Pirates' mistakes, and they were rock solid in defence to add to a ruthless streak in attack.
Assistant coach, Jim Henry said: “That was a very tough day.
“We spent a long time without the ball, down to 14 for two periods, but the lads fronted up defensively.
“We managed to put a lot of pressure on the lineout and stole a lot of ball off Pirates in that.
“We put ourselves under pressure from the word go really, but a couple of really big moments in the first half turned it around.
“We gave some really cheap penalties away, so that’s something we’ll look at, but credit to the lads with how they reacted to those and got themselves back on the line and defended for their lives.”
Fyn Brown and Lucas Titherington both crossed in quick succession to help open up a 17-0 lead, before Pirates did finally find some points through Sol Moody.
A classic Dean Adamson try before the break, thanks to a lovely grubber kick through from Michael Le Bourgeois gave the hosts a healthy lead at the break.
Discipline issues then saw Blues concede 10 penalties and two yellow cards in the second half, and Alex Everett was able to dot down for Pirates.
Bedford again weathered the storm before Maisey crossed after a lovely sweeping move.
Ampthill led 28-5 at the break but, despite then playing into a galeforce wind, were not fazed and continued to rack up the tries.
Speaking after side’s first three game winning streak since December, Ampthill head coach Dave Ward said: “We controlled it, and we took our opportunities, and if you take your opportunities with players we’ve got out there we ran up a big score, and we’re incredibly happy with that.”
Try scorers were Barney Merrett (2), Jack Bracken (2), Oscar Wilson, Angus Hall 56, Charlie West, Louis Grimoldby and Luke Davidson, who also added seven conversions.