Bedford Blues’ first Championship game in five weeks ended in an agonising 29-26 loss at fellow high flyers, Hartpury in Gloucestershire on Saturday afternoon.
The Blues pick up two losing bonus points after they scored four tries, and finished within seven points of Hartpury, but they were unable to collect a final score as the home side held on.
At 22-14 down at half-time, the Blues managed to battle back to 29-26, and with memories of October’s comeback win against the same opposition fresh in their memories, would have fancied themselves to pull off a similar scalp on this occasion.
However, Hartpury stood firm for the majority of the second half to stop that from happening, rising to fourth in the Championship table as they did so in order to continue their own fine season.
The two sides exchanged tries in the first ten minutes, with Hartpury gaining a lead they would never give up scoring first thanks to captain, Jack Davies before Oisin Heffernan hit back with a big carry to restore parity.
Both tries were converted by the dependable Harry Bazalgette and Will Maisey respectively.
The Blues would not get on to the scoresheet again until the final play of the first period as Hartpury turned the screw.
A Bazalgette penalty was followed by an excellent try for the men in red thanks in large to a winding run from Alex Morgan who proceeded to feed the ball to Mike Austin to run in.
Again converted by the Hartpury number ten, the hosts led 17-7 before a third try – and a second for Austin – opened up a well-deserved 22-7 lead.
Joel Matavesi, who scored the last gasp try back at Goldington Road in October, was on hand to reduce the deficit at the interval with a try of his own, but it still left the Blues eight points adrift.
Early unforced errors for Mike Rayer’s men stopped their momentum in its tracks in the early stages of the second half, and although Louis James found himself as the final man to score in the corner to make it 22-19, Hartpury hit back almost immediately.
The Blues failed to deal with a high kick from the boot of Bazalgette and the ball fell kindly to Matt Protheroe who proceeded to score the bonus point for the hosts, with a try that would ultimately prove fatal for Bedford’s chances.
Lucas Titherington gained the Blues’ own bonus point not long after, reducing the deficit to just three but the final twenty five minutes was deadlocked as Hartpury took maximum points in an engrossing encounter.
Ealing also lose
The defeat will hurt all the more for Bedford as Ealing, travelling to Castle Park in Doncaster, also lost 20-18 while Coventry are now just one point behind the Blues in third as they battled past Cambridge 43-33.
There was also a shock down the road at Ampthill as Paul Turner’s side beat Nottingham 43-32; the Mob hoping to give Turner the goodbye he deserves after announcing he will be stepping down after 14 years as head coach at the end of the season.
Chinnor edged out Caldy 24-23 in the division’s other encounter, while Cornish Pirates beat London Scottish on Friday night in a Championship return that saw six competitive fixtures with narrow victors.
Bedford Blues return to Goldington Road next Saturday (29 March) to host the Pirates hoping that this defeat is just a blip as they look to hold on to second place in the Championship.
