HT 7-31 FT 21-50
SCRUMS WON 6/7
SCRUMS LOST 0/0
LINE OUTS WON 7/13
LINE OUTS LOST 5/3
PENALTIES AGAINST 8/8
SIN BIN 1/1
Bedford Blues took home the bragging rights from a decent local derby at Grantchester Road, scoring 8 tries and keeping a feisty Cambridge at bay. The game was overshadowed by a medical emergency amongst the supporters, leading to an extended half time break, which subdued the second half for both sides, but Blues emphatically put last week’s home defeat against Nottingham to bed.
DOR Mike Rayer said afterward, “Our thoughts are with the gentleman involved in today’s incident, and rugby obviously pales into insignificance in these situations. Our thoughts are with him and his family. On the pitch, the boys created a lot of space for us to run in those tries. Dean Adamson scored a hat-trick – that’s what Deano does – but credit to Cambridge today. They fought hard and had a real go at scrum time and at the breakdown and scored some good tries. Our focus this week was to put last week behind us and we did that.”
Blues opened the scoring through Adamson 10 minutes in, the winger running in from distance as they defended their own line just after Kesena Izu had failed with a scorching run for the hosts. Will Maisey converted.
Cambridge’s Ben Currie took his second yellow in successive weeks attempting to prevent Blues scoring again – but the visitors obliged anyway through Michael Le Bourgeoise from the subsequent penalty and winning line out.
Adamson added another for 17-nil to Blues – but just as it looked that the visiotrs would run away with the game 20 minutes in, Cambridge’s Ollie Allan – on loan from Leicester Tigers – snatched a Bedford pass out of the air, spun, and ran in for a tremendous solo try. Jamie Annand converted and it looked for all the world like ‘game on’.
Alex Day had other ideas and brought up the try bonus point – Maisey converted again – and right on half time Amena Caqusau made it 5 and gave Cambridge a mountain to climb after the extended break.
Nicholas Finch opened the second half scoring for Blues but Jamie Annand – in his best performance in Blood & Sand colours – ran in from 40 metres for his first try for the Club. He converted his own score, then darted in for another after Lucas Titherington brought up number 6 for Blues. The returning Ruaridh Dawson added the extras to Annand’s second score.
Try as they might, Cambridge couldn’t pick up a bonus point – and Adamson added his third with 2 minutes left. Cambridge head coach Craig Newby rued the lack of a fourth score, saying “We’ve done that four or five times this season. It’s frustrating. Several of our guys had good games today – Allan, Billy Walker, Jamie, Ben Currie – but we’ve go a lot of work to do ahead of Chinnor on Good Friday. And our thoughts, too, are with the supporter who suffered the emergency earlier on”.
Teams
Cambridge
Currie 7, Izu 7, Reweti 7, Sorrell 6 (Green 48 6), Caven 6 (Thorne 73, Annand 7, Allan 7 (Dawson 61 6); Maka 6 (Shamley 76), Doorey-Palmer 6 (Stewart 40 5), Walker 7 (Masoe 73), Friend 6, McCay 6 (Thomas 19 7), Adams (C) 7, Eckersley7, Loggenberg 6 (Yallop 65 6)
Bedford Blues
Worth 7, Caqusau 7 (Hutler 76, Titherington 7, Le Bourgeois 8, Adamson 9, Maisey 8 (Thame 65 7), Day 7; Jack 7 (Conway 47 6), FIsh 7 (Herman 47 6), Heffernan 7 (Tonga’huia 47 6), Ward 7 Benson 7 (Woolford 65 6), Brown 7, Finch 7, Uru 7 (Tuilagi 65 7)
Scorers
Cambridge
Tries – Allan 19, Annand 46,67
Conversions – Annand 20, 47 Dawson 68
Bedford Blues
Tries – Adamson 10, 17, 78 Le Bourgeoise 14, Day 24, Caqusau 39, Finch 46, Titherington 54
Conversions – Maisey 11, 24, 39, 54 Le Bourgeois 79
REFEREE – Matthew Sharpe
ATTENDANCE – 1,376
STAR PLAYER – Dean Adamson (Bedford Blues)