Bedford Blues once again felt the wrath of the Butts Park Arena as Coventry gained maximum points in seeing off Mike Rayer’s side 45-7 in a one-sided victory for the old rivals in the RFU Championship.
After such a dominant opening weekend against Caldy, the Blues conceded four first half tries against a clinical Coventry side who had secured the bonus point by half time and would go on to stamp their authority on the encounter in the second.
It took just three minutes for Coventry to find the whitewash as a swiftly worked move found its way out to the wing where number eight, Matt Kvesic was on hand to finish off the easiest of tries.
Ten minutes later, the try count was doubled courtesy of James Martin and while the conversion was missed, it barely mattered as the lead was 19-0 by the 19-minute mark as Martin secured a brace and already, Bedford had a mountain to climb.
The Blues were not able to gain any foothold on the game, or gain any territory, and when Aaron Hinkley had dotted down the fourth for the bonus point, it felt a long way back for Mike Rayer’s charges.
Fred Tuilagi’s sin bin only compounded the misery as the Blues returned to the sheds at half-time with nothing to show for forty minutes of rugby dominated by the hosts.
Tiny hint at comeback snuffed out
Oisin Heffernan did get Bedford on the board in the early stages of the second half, but any hint of a comeback was quickly drowned out as the Blues invited Coventry straight on to their own five-yard line and eventually conceded a penalty try.
The score remained 31-7 for the majority of the second period, but only until ten minutes to the end when Ryan Hutler scored what was an inevitable try and then went on to score a brace of his own in the final throws.
It was a try that summed up Bedford’s afternoon as they messed up a clearance in their own territory, gifting Hutler the easiest of opportunities to run in a second and secure a 45-7 victory for Coventry.
While last weekend’s convincing Caldy victory raised smiles, this defeat will cause frowns. The Blues were often the architects of their own downfall, although Coventry were at their imperious best in securing two wins from two league games.
Elsewhere, Ealing scored a last gasp try on Friday night in defeating Cornish Pirates 29-24 at the Mennaye.
Ampthill battled back from a 21-12 half-time deficit at league new boys, Chinnor to eventually defeat them 31-29 while there was also an impressive 30-14 away victory for Nottingham at Doncaster’s Castle Park.
Cambridge are also in the winners enclosure, narrowly beating Caldy 26-21 at Paton Field while Hartpury edged out London Scottish 34-33 in Gloucestershire.
