Trio back with Bedford Blues as they plan to build on superb season

The Blues, who re-signed three more of their stars this week, played 29 competitive matches across league, cup and the pre-season Mobbs Memorial Match against Northampton Saints, winning 20 of them.

Highlights include a perfect set of Derby Day victories against neighbours Ampthill, another away victory down at Pirates and an unbelievable fortress record at Goldington Road – ending the campaign with the best home record in the Championship and thrilling crowds averaging close to 3,000.

Blues were only defeated on home soil by the side ranked top of the Premiership and Championship tables across all competitions, beating top-flight opposition for the second season in succession.

Across the campaign, Bedford Blues scored a grand total of 140 tries across all competitions – 39 more than last season.

Blues were also second-best travellers in the second tier with seven victories out of 11 on the road, again only Ealing Trailfinders (10) had more.

Almost doubling his tally from 23/24, Will Maisey topped Blues' scoring charts with 284 points - 235 of those points came in the Championship as he finished as the league’s top marksman.

It was also a season in which Dean Adamson pretty much broke all the records possible – becoming not only Bedford’s greatest ever try scorer, but the Championship overall as well as he scored 110 points.

His tally of 20 tries in the league also saw him finish top of the charts.

The club have moved quickly to keep some of their star men and this week tied down new deals with Lucas Titherington, Oisin Heffernan and James Lennon.

Titherington said: “We had a good time last year, winning became a bit of a habit and we want that to continue in the next campaign. With the play-offs coming in, it’s all to play for.

“It’s only natural that you want to go one better than the previous year, and we know how tough it’s going to be. But there’s no reason why we can’t aspire to those sorts of targets.”

Heffernan added: “I’m not sure there’s one thing to pinpoint as to why we had a really impressive season but certainly we’ll be looking to all buy in and find ways to build that brotherhood again.

“There’s a great culture here, led by Mike who drives from the top, where I think the new lads coming in will settle quickly.

“There’s a whole new identity to the league next season and we want to hit the ground running.”

And Lennon said: “We’ve got a good core of the lads staying together and we’re heading into the new season off the back of our best performance in recent memory.

“I’m really looking forward to it. We’ve really taken pride in our defence recently and it’s been a big element of our game, and we want to continue that.

“With play-offs coming back into it, there’s a lot more jeopardy in the league and that makes it exciting for the players. There’s a little bit more to play for in comparison to recent years.

“One of the targets for myself personally is to hit 100 appearances for this club.

“I’ll be really pleased to follow a lot of the lads in reaching that milestone hopefully next season.”