Bedford Blues have, temporarily at least, moved to second in the league after a belligerent 17-10 victory at Nottingham on Friday night, making it five wins in six Championship fixtures.
Tries from Nathan Langdon, an excellent Louis James and the ever-present Dean Adamson – who is now just ten short of the all-time Bedford Blues record – secured another battling victory for Mike Rayer’s side in the Midlands.
Like many games this season, it wasn’t Bedford Blues at their fluent best but they ground out another win. In a fixture normally branded, ‘The Battle of the Joué’, the game turned into ‘The Battle of the Packs’ in an attritional and muddy affair at Lady Bay.
Unlike the Bath fixture last weekend, where it took fifty minutes for the scoreboard to tick off zero, Bedford Blues were quick off the mark and five minutes in, they had their first try courtesy of Langdon at the bottom of a driving maul.
It was a try that would set the scene for the battle ahead in blustery conditions, and a battle it became as injury stoppages punctuated the game at regular intervals.
Nottingham’s Will Yarnell was the first to get a thorough check from a busy set of physios before the home side managed to find an equaliser.
It was Jai Johal who kicked the move off with a cute chip over the top with David Williams darting through to collect with ease. The winger’s pass to Charlie Myall was then good enough for Nottingham to restore parity.
Within minutes, the Blues were back in front thanks to smart play from Lucas Titherington and then Louis James to find perennial try scorer, Dean Adamson to finish.
The windy conditions were not helping the conversions, with all three missed to give the Blues a 10-5 half time advantage.
Blues defence hold firm again
Fyn Brown was the latest player to receive a head injury assessment on the verge of the interval, before Aniseko Sio and Myall followed suit as the second half staggered into its opening stages.
Alfie Garside almost gave Bedford their third try on 46 minutes, but couldn’t gather cleanly as neither side could find their killer instinct with the posts in their sights.
Kody Vereti became the fourth HIA inside ten minutes as the doctors were kept occupied, with the consistent stoppages playing havoc with momentum for both teams.
After the stoppages, Nottingham were able to get a foothold in the game but it was the Blues who struck with fifteen minutes left; Louis James collecting a Nottingham up and under and sprinting a full sixty metres to find the try line.
It was a moment of magic that had been lacking up to this point, and at 17-5, Bedford had a lead to defend.
And despite a 74th minute score from the hosts, again in ugly fashion at the bottom of a maul, the Blues did just that, defending with great courage once again to hold on to a 17-10 victory.
It was an encounter much like the Ampthill cup win at the beginning of the month, and the victory in Penzance against the Pirates. This Blues team have, for many years, forged a reputation on try scoring but this campaign, it’s the pack who have taken the plaudits.
Once again, stoic defence paid dividends, not least from the likes of Titherington and Garside at the end, showing its been a real team effort to take the Blues up to second in the Championship table.
Only points difference is keeping Bedford off the top, although Coventry and Ealing both play tomorrow, against Ampthill and London Scottish respectively, and there’d need to be a big upset for the Blues to remain there.
That being said, three of the next four Championship clashes are very winnable games against Scottish, Chinnor and Cambridge, so by the time 2025 arrives, Bedford Blues may be well set to finally challenge the top two.
In the other game on Friday night, a struggling Cornish Pirates squeezed past newly promoted, Chinnor 15-13 to earn just their second win of the season to rise to 7th.
The other two fixtures in round six of the Championship are Doncaster vs Cambridge and Hartpury vs Caldy, while Bedford Blues are back at Goldington Road next Saturday (7 December) as they welcome champions, Ealing.
