Bedford Blues are up to third in the Championship table after another fruitful Friday night under the floodlights in Nottingham with Mike Rayer’s side running out 34-24 winners in the Midlands.
In muddy and windy conditions at Lady Bay, Bedford Blues made it three wins on the bounce at a key time in the league season and keep up their pursuit of second place in the table.
Nicknamed, ‘The Battle of the Joué, Bedford-Nottingham fixtures are rarely dull with both sides looking to play expansive and entertaining rugby and that tone was set a mere 41 seconds into this latest clash.
Dean Adamson raced clear from the Nottingham defence and slid through the mud to become Bedford Blues’ second highest try scorer in history on his own in giving the Blues an early five point advantage.
A Will Maisey penalty extended that lead to eight before Nottingham got on the scoreboard as loosehead prop, Archie van der Flier found himself at the bottom of a pile of bodies to squirm over.
Blues’ James Fish returned the favour in similar fashion after 25 minutes and when he repeated the trick five minutes later, Bedford had fashioned open a 20-5 lead.
The try scoring opportunities were by now becoming frequent and Nottingham hit back again thanks to Sebastian Ferreira; his first try in Nottingham colours but there was still time for the Blues to secure the bonus point before half time.
Oisin Heffernan was on hand to finish off a mazy run from the returning Jac Arthur to give the visitors a 27-12 lead at the halfway stage of a typically engrossing contest.
Defence to the fore again
With the windy conditions against them for the second forty minutes, Bedford had to be on top of their game to hold on to a deserved lead and this was in danger as former Blues man, Ryan Olowofela capitalised on a bad mistake to stroll home and reduce the deficit to 27-19.
Rayer rang the changes, and it was one of them who would continue to keep Nottingham at arms length as Robin Williams scored the Blues’ fifth try of the night on the hour mark.
From there, the defence that has stood wonderfully firm in recent weeks took over.
While the Blues had the best of the next ten minutes, Nottingham found another gear in the final ten but with valiant defending from the likes of Henry Pollock, Alex Day and Joel Matavesi, the home side couldn’t find that key score to make the finale a tense one.
Marcus Ramage did find the try line with the last play of the game, earning the home side a bonus point of their own but it was not enough as Bedford Blues bring back another maximum five points to Goldington Road.
The Blues leapfrog Cornish Pirates, who lost out to league leaders Ealing 26-17 at the Mennaye in a bumper Friday night edition of Championship action.
Coventry remain second after thrashing Cambridge while London Scottish rise from the foot of the table into 10th after a tight 29-26 victory against Hartpury.
The only other fixture in the Championship this weekend comes from Merseyside as Ampthill look to build on their shock victory against Ealing last weekend with a trip to Caldy.
