It’s been a longer wait than usual, but Goldington Road is set to welcome its largest crowd of the season as the Championship campaign continues with a festive derby against Cambridge on Saturday (28 December).
Bedford Blues have stuttered in their pursuit of the Championship’s top two in recent weeks; a last-gasp win against London Scottish sandwiched between two defeats, most recently against the division’s newest side, Chinnor.
Read: Bedford Blues remain third despite shock Chinnor loss
Now looking over their shoulders at the chasing pack, Bedford Blues will want to get back into the winner’s enclosure before the Championship takes a three week break against a Cambridge side who have won just three of their nine league games so far.
And with a sell out capacity crowd of 5,000 confirmed for the annual festive extravaganza, the atmosphere is sure to be bouncing.
Five changes
Mike Rayer makes five changes to the Blues’ starting line-up after the Chinnor disappointment, with a more familiar half back pairing coming in for Jonny Weimann and George Makepeace-Cubitt.
Will Maisey returns at fly half, while James Lennon takes the number nine jersey in the continued absence of club captain, Alex Day while Matt Worley returns on the right wing to begin from the off.
Bath loanee, John Stewart returns at hooker with Fred Tuilagi at number eight the final change as Mike Rayer looks to reassert after a disappointing December so far.
The list of unavailable players is also growing. Alongside Day on the physio’s table are the likes of Jac Arthur, Rory Ward and James Fish, among others, making Rayer’s job more difficult as the weeks go by.
The game kicks off at 3pm.
Bedford Blues Starting XV:
15. Louis James, 14. Matt Worley, 13. Michael Le Bourgeois (C), 12. Joel Matavesi, 11. Dean Adamson, 10. Will Maisey, 9. James Lennon; 1. Joey Conway, 2. John Stewart, 3. Oisin Heffernan, 4. Luke Frost, 5. Alex Woolford, 6. Fyn Brown, 7. Joe Howard, 8. Fred Tuilagi
Bedford Blues Replacements:
16. Nathan Langdon, 17, Jamie Jack, 18. Beltus Nonleh, 19. Ed Prowse, 20. Cameron King, 21. Jake Garside, 22. George Makepeace-Cubitt, 23. Lucas Titherington
This article was amended on 27 December 2024 at 19:50 to reflect updated ticketing information.
