Old Bedians Stumble to Victory

Old Bedians 57 (Tries: Betty 3, Willis 3, Gallagher, Gore, Schofield,; Convs: Rakowski 3, Gallagher 3 convs) def Marple 45

In a game that had absolutely everything; 15 tries, four yellow cards, one red card, and with the only possible exception being defence, Old Bedians overcame a stubborn Marple outfit to extend their unbeaten run in season ’15/16.

A total of 33 players were missing across the club at the weekend and this saw seven changes in personnel for the first team for this encounter. The game also saw the players take the field in their pink charity tops after the unfortunate withdrawal of their opposition in the week prior.

Bede’s got off to a cracking start; after a Marple error at kickoff the resulting scrum saw the ball sent wide to Vince Basteraud Betty who beat several defenders in a powerful 40 metre charge to open the scoring. A lapse straight off the restart saw Maple capitalise on a Bedians error, not for the last time that day, to score. Bedians once again went to task from the kickoff , reclaiming the ball and driving deep inside the opposition half only to have Mike Gallagher given ten minutes in the cooler. Bedians and Maple exchanged scores during this point with Betty barging over from close range.

With the sides back to parity Bedes looked to push on and get back on the front foot. Gallagher called a move for himself and went over and the feeling was Bedians were going to finally get going. Wrong. The next 20 minutes saw some pretty ordinary and generally disinterested rugby from the home side with Marple scoring some very easy tries. Too add to the cost Bedians lost winger Pauly Makinen to a broken shoulder.

Bedes went into half time deservedly 15 points down and after some choice words came back with renewed endeavour. Some very good interplay between livewire scrum half Alan Irwin and the pack saw Bedians making great inroads through strong charges from Webley, O’Rouke, Thompson and co allowing Willis to crash over twice from close range. Hooker Jordi Gore just got sick of waiting and stepped his way through a gap to run in from 40 metres and Bedians hit the front.

Unfortunately, we immediately fell back to sleep and Marple, never thinking of giving up, were able to regain the lead, again through some uncharacteristic lapses in thinking, defence and a yellow card to Daniel Davis. With 15 minutes to go and seven points down an unquestionably lethargic Bedes could see a finish line and went through the gears quite quickly.

Impressive centre Schofield had proved a handful all game and smashed his way over to keep his try scoring streak going and Betty capped off a fantastic return waltzing over for his third. With little time left on the clock the finally try was an impressive interplay between forwards and backs started by winger Morgan Reidy, himself unlucky not to have got a try, sending his forward supporters through with Davis scooting along the touchline to send a final pass inside to Willis who ended the days scoring; a deserved try for Willis for his good running throughout the game.

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