Paul tries to ruin a great day to be a Bedian

With Old Bedians Rugby Club bustling with people due to the inaugural Back to Rugby 10s tournament, the sun shining all day and an unusually large crowd gathered for a 2nd team match the scene was set for the first win of the season for Old Bedians 2s. Fortunately the match didn’t disappoint.

With the usual mix of old timers (sorry Jack R) and some new faces making their Bedians bows, Bedes got off to a great start from the first whistle with neat forward phases rumbling all the way into the opposition 22. This would be the way things went for most of the afternoon.

After the opening few minutes Bedians strung a few phases together with the impressive Campbell organising the forward pack, superbly supported in the back row all game by the rhino-chested baby-Bede, Andy Schofield and the ever willing Will Evans. Once the ball got into the hands of the backs they were able to find the spaces. Neat passing from three quarter Josh Waterworth, Daniel 'Ginner' Davis and Tommo in the build up phases eventually set up the first score with winger Alex going over in the corner on his Bedians debut.

More solid possession and good forward play from the whole pack presented great ball for scrum half Ben Rogerson to feed the backs throughout the first half. More strong running from Ginner and Tommo in the centres punched holes in the defence and not before long the ball came out to the backs again for Josh Waterworth to stretch out an not-so-unusually suntanned Welsh arm to score. Amazingly this was Josh’s first try for Bedians, and, even more amazingly considering how many times Josh has kicked from the tee, the first POINTS that Josh had scored for Bedians! Well done lad, we'll forgive you for trying to demolish the posts with the penalty earlier in the half.

Acton came back into the game slightly in the first half with a bit of possession, led mainly by their powerful (if slightly injured) number 8. From a penalty Acton had a kick at goal which drifted wide, and it was testament to solid defence, great tackling and great all round forward play from the home side that this was pretty much the Nomads' only chance of scoring in the whole match. Ginner pointed out at half time that the backs had hardly had to make a tackle thanks to the efforts of the forwards. Andrew 'Welshie' Welsh and Joe 'Big Joe' Wilkinson in the second row happily tackled anyone all game and put in a real shift around the park while the front row of Jack, Dan Mollit and Ash 'Mini-Ribs' Thomas stole so much ball and won so many rucks it was hard to keep count, with Dan in particular continuing the impressive start to his Bedians career. Joe however probably wishes he hadn’t tackled a charging Acton forward with his face as this resulted in a broken nose, although as all Bedians will tell you it was for a great cause.

To end the first half Bedians rampaged up with field with Jay Lau making an exhilarating 60 yard break on the right wing before slowing down and falling head first into the ground when the try line was almost within reach! A few phases later however when the ball was recycled and went through the slick hands of the backs, Andrew 'Elton' Welsby went over in the corner to make it 15-0 at half time.

Into the second half and with the spectators enjoying the beer, sunshine, and 'charismatic' appearance of a certain Mr Brian Cheese, Bedians started to turn on the style. Campbell continued to organise the forwards and breach the Acton defence with his massive South Pacific thighs as Bedians set up camp in the opposition half.

Josh Graham was a name on the team sheet that hardly anyone recognised. However, we all soon knew who he was when he came on at half time in the centre and with possibly his first touch broke through the opposition line, stepped the full back and touched down in style. I hear that Josh is one of Foxy’s friends from Malaysia (poor lad). It’s amazing that within minutes of stepping onto the pitch Josh had already scored more tries for Bedians than the wee Scotsman ever managed. He'll have to go some to rival the number of words spoken however!

Pete 'Scouse Pete' Wall came on in the second half to add some bulk to the front row with Anthony 'Catman' Hargreaves and Steve Tarling also pairing up in the second row. Scouse and Catman made some good rumbles over the gain line and Steve certainly didn’t live up to his nickname, putting himself about around the pitch. Scrums and lineouts were very solid all day and three new sets of fresh legs all helped with the continued forward pressure. The backs continued to enjoy their day in the sunshine with everyone getting ball in hand from Alex on the left wing to Gareth 'Gasman' Webber and Jay Lau on the other, the latter capping a nice flowing move in the second half with a try on the right.

The game ended with Ben 'New Foxy' Rogerson supporting play down the right hand side of the pitch. Much to the delight of the spectators a cheeky dummy sold the Acton winger (as well as some spectators) into next week and allowed the scrum half to scamper over for the final try. Elton stepped up and superbly slotted the conversion from the touchline for his second kick of the match.

The game finished 39-0 with 7 tries and 2 conversions so at some point in the second half there was another try. Despite asking everyone involved in the game no-one knows who scored this mysterious seventh try! Please will someone claim this try, it is like a lost child in the car park crying for an owner. If nobody claims it by the end of the season we will be forced to give it to Foxy and nobody wants that!!

Overall it was a cracking performance from everyone in a Bedians shirt and all of the players can be proud of the effort they put in and can take pride in the 39-0 scoreline. The Acton number 8, who was carrying numerous injuries but soldiered on was given the Acton man of the match. Skipper Elton's nomination for the Bedians man of the match went to Campbell for his cracking display, although the Acton lads decided it should go to scrum half Ben Rogerson. What does Elton know eh?

Lets keep this form going and move up the table Bedians.

P.S Breaking news!! Josh Waterworth claims the elusive 7th try, his 2nd of the match, so bad luck Foxy destined never to score for Bedes till the End