Bedford Blues were left bereft in the capital yesterday evening after blowing a big lead against Richmond to lose 36-33 at the Richmond Athletic Ground.
The hosts started and ended well, but Bedford Blues were in control for vast swathes of the game, and showed their famous fluidity at times, but Mike Rayer’s side lost their way as Richmond fought back.
The London-based side started the game at great pace and opened up a 12-0 lead early on with former Bedford Blues scrum half, James Lennon kicking off the scoring before Hamish Graham extended the lead.
From there though, Bedford had all of the ball and all of the territory and a blitz of first half tries looked to have blown their hosts away.
Three tries in ten first half minutes
Joel Matavesi strolled in to open Bedford’s account before Tui Uru rolled off the back of a scrum to restore parity, with Will Maisey’s left boot securing the lead for the first time.
On the half hour mark, Dean Adamson got in on the action, running in under the posts from sixty metres out to score his 109th try in Bedford Blues colours after Toby Saysell was sin-binned for Richmond.
Soon after, captain Alex Day secured the bonus point, collecting his own kick to score his sixth try of the season before a penalty try opened up a considerable gap on the scoreboard.
Richmond did score in the last throws of the first half through another former Bedford player in James Little, but with the half-time score at 17-33, the travelling Blues family would have been confident of a win.
The hosts had other ideas from the first whistle of the second half though, showing their grit and determination from the off as a scoreless second half for Bedford proved to be fateful.
It took until the hour mark for Richmond to ignite their late show; Hamish Graham added his second of the afternoon before Saysell reduced the gap to four points with ten minutes remaining.
A period of tension followed but Bedford hearts were broken three minutes from the end as Zuriel Makele spotted a gap and strolled through it to give his side a 36-33 victory.
“We were really poor in the second half”
Everyone associated with the Blues will have known they let a perfect opportunity slip to jump up to third in the Championship table, with Bedford’s man-of-the-match, Dean Adamson particularly scathing.
“We really need to look at how we close these games out. We get these leads but we don’t finish them off and we let teams back in to the game and we need to work on that.
“We defended well, and we executed our ideas well in the first half, but we were really poor in the second half. We slipped off, and it was downhill from there. Penalties, missed tackles, the lot really.”
Bedford Blues remain in fourth in the Championship, leapfrogged by Coventry who beat Caldy 28-17 on Saturday afternoon.
Ealing Trailfinders and Jersey Reds both continue to set a blistering pace at the top with seven wins from seven apiece; Jersey beating Hartpury 27-17 while Ealing thrashed Nottingham.
Doncaster Knights beat Ampthill 35-19 while Cornish Pirates halted their slide with a 32-0 win against London Scottish, who Bedford Blues open their Championship Cup campaign against next Friday night.
