Try Fest at Goldington Road

  This afternoon was the opening afternoon of the RFU Championship (the second division in professional rugby one below the Aviva Premiership). Goldington Road is the Home of my team Bedford Blues and this afternoon we were playing Plymouth Albion. There was a decent crowd  about 2,500 and the sun was shining and the pitch looked cracking…..

   The game got off to a good start for about the first 10 minutes both teams were evenly matched and I thought it was going to be a tough game for the Blues but how wrong I was. About a quarter of an hour into the game James Pritchard our Full Back slotted over a penalty for us to take a 3 nil lead.  Shortly after this a good move by the backs lead to Sacha Harding going over  for the first try of the season and an 8 nil lead, then Albion came back fighting and soon were awarded a penalty from inside their own half where Alex Davis slotted over to make the score 8 3.

   Ollie Dodge went over to score his first try in the corner and the Blues were 15 3 up now and minutes later Ollie Dodge went over in the same spot for his second try and Blues were leading 20 3 and it stayed that way until half time, it left me thinking and hoping for one more try and that would give us the bonus point. But how wrong I was and I was expecting to see an Albion side that would put up a fight but within minutes of the restart Dan Richmond our hooker went over and James Pritchard converted and the score was 27 3 and the bonus point was in the bag. Next it was the turn of Ollie Dodge to score for his hatrick and  the score was 32 3, next up it was the turn of Duncan Taylor to score and James Pritchard slotted over the conversion and we were leading 39 3. After this try Albion managed to get some possession and the heavens opened and this isn’t good as the Blues never play well in the rain as they like

to play a passing game…Blues took the pressure and Albion failed to add to their tally, and the it was the Turn of James Pritchard to score and convert to bring the scores to Blues 46 Albion 3. The final try of the afternoon was the best Brendon Burke was just inside the Albion half and about to be tackled when he kicked the ball through but it skimmed the grass and stopped before the touch line an Albion player tried to pick the ball up but miss judged and Brendon got to the ball again and this time kicked toward the corner and Sacha Harding ran on got to the ball was tackled but managed to keep the ball in play and flicked the ball to James Pritchard who went over to score and the Final score was 51 3. Fantastic game and well played all.

The Blues played well today and I hope they keep this up for the coming season I don’t feel it’s fair to pick a man of the match as they players played so well but I will mention a few, Paul Tupai Sacha Harding, Jackson Wray, Ollie Dodge, Darryl Veenendaal, Duncan Taylor  and Brendon Burke. I will also say the Referee had a great game and was excellent thank you Ref……