1st XV
Matches
Sat 25 Aug 2012
Didsbury Old Bedians RUFC
1st XV
7
29
Thornton Cleveleys RUFC
Bedians Edged Out by League New Boys

Bedians Edged Out by League New Boys

Paul Makinen29 Aug 2012 - 08:39
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https://www.oldbedians.co.uk/t

by Leo Carroll

Given that the referee delayed kick off for ten minutes while torrential rain and a reasonably sized electrical storm passed, it was never going to be the best day for flowing rugby at Millgate Lane.

Thornton Cleveleys visited Millgate Lane for a Lancashire Bowl game kicking off an important season for them, their first back in the National League Structure after a period in the intermediate leagues.
Bedians were suffering from a number of absences as holidays, stag dos and music festivals took their toll, meaning that back rows Rob Renshaw, John Gosling and James Kington lined up at full back, centre and scrum half respectively, debutant Pete Scott in the back row enjoyed his first game for the club, and John Swift shuffled in from centre to fly half.

This meant that Bedians lacked some of the cohesiveness that they enjoyed last season, and Thornton were on top in the early exchanges, gaining good territory in the Bedians half, with Bedians being lucky on a couple of occasions where Thornton handling errors, understandable in the atrocious conditions, handed Bedians possession at scrums.

However, Thornton seemed to come to terms with the new scrum rules more quickly than Bedians who were under pressure on their own and opposition scrums. One such scrum near the Bedians line was won well by Thornton who moved the ball to the opposite wing and cleverly chipped through for their first score on 15 minutes.

From the resulting kick off, Thornton worked their way back down the pitch again, putting Bedes under pressure at a lineout on their own try line, with some poor Bedians tackling allowing Thornton Cleveleys centre Phil Gamble to score between the posts.

This seemed to be the wake up call Bedians needed. Working their way up the pitch, with excellent running from Gosling in the centre, and support from Scott and Ben Dawson in the back row, Bedians put some phases of play together, and with strong support running, captain and hooker Steve Bannell was unlucky to be adjudged to have been held up over the line. The relief for Thornton was temporary however as from the resulting scrum, Bedians worked the ball to Vince “Uncle Albert” Betty who crashed over the line, the conversion being slotted by Swift.

The second half was a more even affair. The rain continued to pour, but Bedians worked hard with their possession, however the combination of handling errors in the rain, and a referee with a whistle he was determined to use at every opportunity meant the second half was a stop-start affair.

Despite that, the unfamiliar Bedians line up started to gel, with Kington bossing the forwards, and Andrew Welsh and Rich Thompson working well in the loose, and prop Jim O’Neill putting in the hard yards. John Swift set the three quarter line running, with Betty and Gosling making good ground.

However, the harder Bedes tried, the more resolutely Thornton defended, and almost inevitably as Bedes became more desperate to score and left themselves exposed, Thornton were able to take advantage of a committed defence and ran in two almost identical tries, each time working the ball wide from a turnover in their own half before their speedy winger ran the length of the field, scoring himself first time and hacking infield for a supporting player to score the second.

Ultimately Bedians can have no complaints about the result, but can feel proud of the performance of an unfamiliar line up. Thornton should be congratulated for the positive way they played the game, and they will cause teams a lot of problems in North Lancs 2, but with a few more hours on the training field and the return of some senior players, Bedians should feel no fear about the rematch in the league fixture in a few weeks time.

Leo Carroll

Match details

Match date

Sat 25 Aug 2012

Kickoff

15:00
Team overview
Further reading

Team Sponsors

Club Sponsor - identityFS