Bedfordshire’s newest community rugby team were back in action over the weekend, as the Bedfordshire Super Vets renewed rivalries with their Hertfordshire counterparts, winning 56-44 in a charity match in aid of Cure Parkinson’s.
The Super Vets, set up in the second half of 2025, allows rugby players over the age of 50 to lace up their boots once more to play in exhibition matches, and the ever-increasingly popular club have already raised money for the Joan Condon Foundation and the MND Association.
Read: Bedfordshire SuperVets raise money for MND with victory in Suffolk
Read: Meet the Bedfordshire Super Vets setting out to boost rugby numbers in aid of local charities
As representatives from eight of the Bedfordshire RFU clubs arrived at a somewhat cramped Chess Valley RFC in Rickmansworth for the return fixture against Hertfordshire, the changing room was ringing with the sound of old friends and laughter.
The game started with Hertfordshire very much on the ascendancy, starting the game a lot quicker and sharper than the away team.
It appeared that most of the Bedfordshire side were still enjoying their early afternoon nap, soon finding themselves down with a well worked try as one of Hertfordshire’s centres burst through the line to score under the posts for a 7-0 lead.
This seemed to wake Bedfordshire up from their slumber, as captain Charlie Nissen lead from the front and bulldozered his way over to take the scores level at 7-7, before Hertfordshire scored again to make the score 14-7.
It was now that Charlie had had enough, as again he scored under the posts,, spurring on his Bedfordshire teammates who finally woke up and scored two quick tries through flying Bedford Swifts centre, Virgil Ferguson and another shortly after for fleet-footed Ace McDade.
Hertfordshire did manage to get themselves back into the game by scoring a well worked try – again through their hard running centres -however Bedfordshire had now got their tails up, as Ampthill’s Damon Blakey scored a try by scything a line through the defence scoring out wide.
At this point, you could have argued that all the players had left their boots at home or maybe just needed another nap approaching 40 minutes of ‘action’, as the half time whistle went for a well-deserved rest.
After an insightful half time team talk, Bedfordshire came out of the traps a lot quicker than they had in the first half, and soon found themselves up by a couple of scores with the sure footed Ferguson going over again, before Nissen scored another.
It was at this point that Bedfordshire decided to have another ten-minute snooze, and they let Hertfordshire score a couple of tries of their own to bring the score line back a lot closer than it should have been.
This set off the Bedfordshire alarm clocks, with Karl Belmar and McDade adding to the try count.
Not down beaten in the slightest, Hertfordshire ran the ball from their own try line to score out wide, but the last score for Bedfordshire came from the team’s man of the match Gerry Goss, bursting through a gap in the Hertfordshire line.
Bedfordshire, thinking the game was all but won decided to have one last nap before the bus home, and leaked three quick tries to Hertfordshire that put a slight dampener on the score line, although they were able to hold on for a 56-44 win.
Bedfordshire Super Vets also donated £280 to Cure Parkinson’s UK, the charity associated with the host club, Chess Valley from their match fees.
With over 60 players all over the age of 50 taking part in this game, the Super Vets are proving that playing age grade rugby is appealing to more and more men over the age of 50.
Should you want to get involved in this fantastic initiative that aims to get those retirees (and newcomers to the game) back on the field, you can contact the team at bedssupervets@gmail.com.
