BEDFORD BLUES 48 CORNISH PIRATES 36
Paul Tupai came away with a hat-trick on an extraordinary afternoon at Goldington Road as Bedford defeated Cornish Pirates in an absolute try-fest this afternoon.
Fourteen times the ball ended up crossing the whitewash as both teams made the most of the sunny conditions to entertain the crowd from first whistle to last.
There was nothing riding on this match in truth and the Blues needed a two-try wake-up call to stir themselves from a slow start.
But they recovered superbly as they produced some of their best rugby of the season – particularly in the second half as they eventually ran in eight tries.
The match was an open one from the word go and Bedford came close to conceding in the opening minute as Corey Hircock was forced to make a terrific tackle on the right wing to stop Kyle Moyle.
But it was only a brief reprieve for the Blues as Tom Kessell fed the ball to Angus Sinclair, who picked out centre Tom Hendrickson bursting through a gap to score inside three minutes.
Moyle converted and injury was added to insult for the hosts as Darren Fox was forced off to be replaced by Tom Armes.
A poor start was compounded as Michael Le Bourgeois knocked on and Max Bodilly’s kick stayed in play with Bedford’s players clearly expecting it to roll out.
While everyone else stood and watched, the Pirates full back practically strolled to the loose ball and jogged in unopposed.
Bedford then clicked into gear as Mark Atkinson off-loaded to Patrick Tapley and after he was tackled just short, Tupai smartly picked up from the ruck to score with James Pritchard adding the extras.
Five minutes later the big Samoan was celebrating again after Tony Fenner found him out wide on the left and the 39-year-old did brilliantly to surge through for his second try.
Pritchard converted again and having started the game so badly, Bedford found themselves 14-12 up although their joy was somewhat diluted by Atkinson limping off.
Their lead survived until half-time as Moyle sent a penalty wide soon before the referee took the players back to the changing room.
However, the Pirates went ahead again four minutes into the second half as Tom Duncan peeled off the back of an attacking scrum to touch down in the corner despite the attentions of Pritchard.
Moyle sent his conversion against a post and Bedford’s response was a swift one this time as a good spell of pressure was rounded off by Pritchard sending prop Nick Auterac under the posts.
And Goldington Road was then celebrating one of the least likely hat-tricks of the season as an attacking maul led to Tupai touching down for his third try to secure Bedford’s bonus point.
It proved to be his last contribution as he was replaced by Mike Howard and the crowd quite rightly gave him a standing ovation.
The visitors then lost Tom Kessell to the sin bin and the Blues were to immediately take advantage as another driving maul led to Joe Vandermolen grounding the ball although Pritchard missed the conversion.
The hosts were now playing with a freedom not seen often enough this season and soon had another try as a superb break down the left involving Le Bourgeois and Hircock was rounded off by Tony Fenner.
By the time Kessell was back on, Bedford had scored for a seventh time as Darryl Veenendaal wriggled out of a tackle and no-one was going to catch Tapley after he collected his off-load.
The Cornish Pirates then scored their bonus point try as Duncan claimed his second by squeezing in under the posts.
The scoring spree continued down at the other end as Tapley found Gregor Gillanders, whose pass sent replacement hooker TJ Harris away to score in the corner.
The only sour point for the Blues is that they switched off at the end allowing Luke Jones then Hendrickson to pull scores back.
Blues are ninth but could finish as high as seventh ahead of Saturday’s final game at home to relegation threatened Jersey.
Rugby Union: Bedford Blues 48 Cornish Pirates 36 - Paul Tupai bags hat-trick ...
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