Bedford Blues pulled off one of their best victories in recent years with a stunning second half comeback to leapfrog Cornish Pirates in the Championship table in Penzance.
Mike Rayer made five changes to his starting line-up for the tough encounter with the Pirates, who had won two from two in the opening skirmishes of the Championship season and were looking for a seventh consecutive victory against the Blues.
Read: Bedford Blues make five changes in pursuit of back-to-back victories
What transpired was an inspirational comeback from Mike Rayer’s men resulting in a comprehensive 41-21 win to jump into third in the league standings.
Two penalties from the left boot of Will Maisey were the only points the visitors were able to muster in the first half, with their heroics at the other end of the pitch keeping the Pirates out.
That was until the half hour mark when the Pirates eventually found a way through a belligerent Blues defence albeit in an ugly yet effective manner; the driving maul ending with a try for hooker, Will Crane.
Another score – via the same method – came on the brink of the interval for the hosts, with Rusi Tuima touching down this time to give Cornish Pirates a 14-6 lead at half-time.
“A lot of resilience and a lot of character”
With the wind due to help the Blues in the second half, they immediately set about closing the gap as Ethan Grayson sped away, finding George Hendy who eventually fed Alex Day to score Bedford’s first try of the afternoon.
Maisey’s conversion and a penalty five minutes later gave Bedford the lead, and despite Robin Wedlake temporarily restoring the Pirates advantage; the final twenty minutes will go down in Bedford folklore.
First, Jac Arthur found parity with his first try of the season before Jacob Fields dotted down on his 99th appearance in Blues colours to open up what turned out to be an unassailable lead.
A second try for captain, Alex Day and further penalties for man-of-the-match, Will Maisey secured a dazzling 41-21 triumph, leaving Mike Rayer particularly pleased with his team’s character.
“We know on our day over the last few years, that if we get it right, then we can challenge a lot of sides.
“We might have been a little bit undercooked pre-season, only time will tell, but it was well earnt, and it was pretty clinical in the second half.
“I’m over the moon and just pleased for the lads, you could see on their faces at the end of the game what it meant.”
The magnitude of the victory can be seen by looking at the Pirates’ home record. The Mennaye has been a Cornish fortress for a long time now, having gone unbeaten there for the entirety of last season.
However, in a similar fashion to the win away at Ealing in the last campaign, Bedford Blues have a knack of ruining records and have now done so to secure two wins from three.
Elsewhere in the Championship, Jersey Reds and Ealing are now the only two sides with 100% records as they recorded comfortable victories over London Scottish and Hartpury respectively.
Ampthill suffered another narrow defeat, 26-24 at Coventry and they join Richmond and Scottish in losing three in three, with Richmond comprehensively beaten at Doncaster Knights.
Bedford host league new boys, Caldy next weekend who lost 27-19 at home to Nottingham who now sit in fourth behind the Blues.
