Bedians Beaten in Birchfield Battle

Old Bedians suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of a sturdy Birchfield outfit, despite dominating up front for significant periods .

Old Bedians suffered their first defeat of the season at the hands of a sturdy Birchfield outfit, despite dominating up front for significant periods of the match.

In perfect conditions for running rugby, Bedians kicked off and immediately put the home side under pressure as the pack got down to business and won their own scrum. From the resulting play a penalty was awarded which Bedians elected to kick, but Rogerson put it just wide leaving the scores even. Further attacks failed to yield points due to solid defending along the Birchfield line, who were clearly well drilled at leaving the ruck alone and fanning out in defence.

In their first foray into the visitors half, Birchfield won their own lineout and Bedians were caught offside. The resulting penalty was successfully converted by the Birchfield kicker and Bedians were left scratching their heads as to how they were behind after dominating the opening possession.

The opposing forwards were getting stuck into each other and the match remained tight. Following successive hits by the Bedians pack, another penalty was awarded which Rogerson successfully slotted to level the scores.

An early change by Birchfield coach brought a dangerous runner to the midfield and this proved to be a significant step in the home side gaining the upper hand in the match. Their new man broke the Bedians defensive line and released the winger to score in the corner. The conversion was accurate from a tight angle, leaving Bedians trailing 10-3.

The Bedians pack were continuing to make their presence felt, but the opposition were not lying down, and when the ball was released to the back line a bone shuddering tackle brought down the lively Lawrence Smith in the midfield. He shook off the tackle but the backs were having a hard time breaking the Birchfield defence.

The back line were further hampered by the injury to fly half Michael Gallagher, who played the remaining 60 minutes of the match with only one foot. With a make shift back line starting the match, and now the fly half in trouble, Bedes did well to continue to probe the Birchfield defence.

Rogerson had another successful penalty attempt near the end of the first half leaving the score at 10-6 with everything to play for in the second half.

It was more of the same in the second half with Bedians continuing to dominate upfront, winning another scrum against the head. Despite this, it was Birchfield who were next on the score sheet, as their winger dived into the far corner to touch down. 17-6. Whilst Bedian defenders felt that the try scorer had been held up over the line, there is no TMO for North Lancashire Division 2 and so the try stood.

Bedians, not to be deterred, and buoyed by their dominance at the scrum, went down the other end, and after Birchfield were again caught offside in their 22, Rogerson sent another kick between the posts, 17-9.

Bedes continued to press the Birchfield line and the game ended up in an attack v defence drill as Bedes pressured and Birchfield defended before kicking deep and inviting further Bedians pressure.

On a rare foray outside of their 22 Birchfield attempted to run the ball, only to see a loose pass intercepted by Bedians captain Steve Bannell. With 2 men to beat, and 3 much faster colleagues in support, Bannell slowly plodded to the line and dived over just in time as a covering tackle came in. With the score line now at 17-14 the game was on, and although Rogerson couldn’t convert the score, Bedes felt they were the side with momentum.

In the end, the comeback was not to be as Bedians conceded a further penalty almost immediately after receiving the kick off and the Birchfield kicker was precise as he knocked it over to leave the final score 20-14.

Credit must go to Birchfield who made the most of their opportunities and defended well throughout the game.

While Bedians will be disappointed with the end result, there were positives to take from the match. The strong and dominant pack won almost every scrum, and if a fit and regular back line had been place or had Rogerson converted his kicking opportunities as he normally does, the Didsbury side would have taken a valuable away win.

The firsts now have a weekend off in which to regroup before facing up to league newcomers North Manchester at Millgate Lane.