BEDFORD BLUES 21 LONDON SCOTTISH 13
Blues got their 2014 off to the best start possible as they survived the sending off of Paul Tupai to record a gutsy victory over in-from London Scottish.
The Exiles had come into this game on the back of five straight victories with the Blues having to lick their wounds following a Boxing Day trouncing at Rotherham.
But they set about righting the wrongs of Clifton Lane by scoring two superb tries in the opening 18 minutes through Michael Le Bourgeois and Nick Fenton-Wells.
From then on, Scottish were chasing the game, although it looked as if it had swung their way after Tupai was shown a red card for punching after 63 minutes.
But the remaining 14 men hung on superbly and victory was just reward for a monstrous effort from the Blues’ pack, who repeatedly had their opponents on the retreat.
Skipper James Pritchard also became the club’s all time leading points scorer on a successful New Year’s Day.
It had mercifully stopped raining by the time the match kicked off, although with such a greasy ball, it was no surprise to see plenty of tactical kicking in the early stages.
One of these from London Scottish’s scrum-half Jordi Pasqualin was charged down and this was to lead to the first try after 12 minutes.
Mark Atkinson produced a perfectly-weighted grubber towards the left with Le Bourgeois only having to drop on the ball to score.
Pritchard kicked a fine conversion and Bedford struck while the iron was hot and made light of the conditions by scoring a second try six minutes later.
Darryl Veenendaal dug the ball out of a ruck before passing left to Tupai, who showed good hands to off-load for Fenton-Wells to bundle over from close range.
Pritchard couldn’t add the extras this time and the Exiles were to then produce their first really threatening moment as Jim Thompson was tackled just short of the line.
However, the referee had been playing advantage, meaning Lee Millar was able to get his side’s first points of the afternoon.
Atkinson then had the chance to restore Bedford’s 12-point advantage from just inside Scottish’s half but his penalty was to fall well short.
However, this wasn’t to matter much as Pritchard was to soon take the score to 15-3 with a kick from much closer in, which was the final act of the first half.
The rain returned during the break with a vengeance, meaning the second half once it got under way was never going to be the prettiest spectacle.
Pritchard was unable to extend the Blues’ advantage six minutes after the restart when he sent a long-range penalty wide.
It was London Scottish who, crucially for their own hopes, were to claim the game’s next points when Millar sent over a penalty after Aaron Morris was pinged for a late tackle.
Pritchard was then to miss another long-range kick after a powerful scrum by the Blues’ pack was rewarded with a penalty.
Then followed what could have been a pivotal minute in the match as Tupai was shown a red card by referee James Meredith for punching USA prop Eric Fry.
From the resulting attacking line-out for the penalty, Mark Bright grounded the ball over the tryline as the driving maul forced its way over with Millar adding the conversion from out wide.
The gap was now down to two points with 17 minutes left and nerves were now jangling inside Goldington Road.
The Exiles really ought to have hit the front after 70 minutes, but they blew a huge overlap to the right as Mike Doneghan had a foot in touch as he received Oli Grove’s pass before going over.
Pritchard then took the Blues out of penalty range after Bright was penalised for breaking off a scrum too early.
He was to even deny the visitors a losing bonus point with the final kick after another superb scrum from the Blues – the cornerstone of a much-needed win.
Article source: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/rugby-corrected-england-score-seven-tries-south-american-014955210.html
Rugby Union: Bedford Blues 21 London Scottish 13 - Blues survive Paul Tupai ...
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