BEDFORD BLUES 40 OLD ALBANIANS 5
Trialist Steven Ellis grabbed his chance to impress with both hands by scoring twice as the Bedford Blues ran out comfortable winners in their pre-season friendly against Old Albanians.
Ellis, who played in London One North for Luton last season, was one of several new faces introduced to the Goldington Road faithful in what has been a summer of upheaval on the pitch.
It took the Blues around 20 minutes to shake off a few cobwebs but once they did, they played some very good rugby in racking up six tries against their opponents from National League One.
The visitors may have been outclassed but they gave Mike Rayer’s men just the competitive run-out they needed as they began the long road to putting the disappointment of the last campaign right.
Bedford started with six of their summer signings in their starting line-up along with trialists Ellis and Peter White, who began at inside centre and scrum-half respectively.
There was also a blast from the past for the Blues’ fans as former lock Jon Phillips lined up against them for Old Albanians one day short of his 42nd birthday.
The match got off to a scrappy start as both sides made errors in their efforts to get back into their routine with a surprising amount of knock-ons for a dry night.
The Blues were to make the breakthrough after 21 minutes when, after captain Paul Tupai was tackled just short of the line, White found prop James Currie, who burrowed in under the posts.
Soon after that Ellis made his mark, although his try came gift-wrapped courtesy of visiting fly-half Will Magie, whose pass to the left wing was comfortably picked off and it was an easy run to the line.
The hosts were starting to hit their stride now and they scored for a third time after half an hour when their pack won a scrum against the head on OA’s ten-metre line.
Their power allowed Joe Vandermolen to go through a gaping hole to score between the sticks with new fly-half Steffan Jones given an easy conversion.
The pack proved to be too much for their opponents again when a driving maul following an attacking line-out bulldozed its way over with none other than Tupai grounding the ball.
Jim Wigglesworth then thought he had added himself to the list of scorers but he was to be denied as Jones’ pass to him was judged forward.
Bedford and their forwards picked up where they left off five minutes into the second half when a five-metre scrum rumbled over the line with Vandermolen claiming his second try of the game.
Phillips was then cruelly sin-binned as the referee failed to get into the spirit of pre-season and the Blues soon made the most of their man advantage.
Replacement scrum-half Kieran Duffin quickly tapped a penalty before giving the ball for Ellis to go over from close range with Jake Sharp kicking his first points of the night to convert.
The inevitable raft of replacements not surprisingly hurt the flow of the game although we were treated to the unprecedented sight of Phil Boulton packing down in the second row.
Old Albanians got themselves onto the scoreboard with eight minutes left when flanker Sam Lunnon picked up a loose ball to jog in down the right wing.
Rugby Union: Bedford Blues 40 Old Albanians 5 - Six home tries in opening ...
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