Bedians go knuts!

48-10

Old Bedians v Knutsford

I don’t really know why but I have written match reports all season for the games we have lost and then not put something together for the games we win but better late then never!

With Leo’s late fitness test proving positive, Captain Steve ‘Stevie Cook’ Cook was allowed back from his emergency 1st team propping duties to lead the 2nd XV - much to his post Christmas market hangover’s delight! From a potential situation where Bedians were starting uncontested with the ever versatile James Kington stepping in at skipper, they found themselves with probably one of the strongest looking packs of the season and a rapid backline brimming with confidence. Knutsford arrived at Bedians short, with players due to arrive any minute, so Sam Griffiths commendably stepped forward to start for Knutsford. Captain Cook, after being on the receiving end of a few mismatches in terms of numbers this season, elected to let Knutsford keep Sam and play 15 v 15 from the kick-off.

The first score wasn’t long in coming, with a lovely sneak from Bedian scrum half for the day, and recently deposed stand in skipper James Kington who picked up from the back of the scrum and ran in from 10 yards out. Shortly after, Bedians extended their lead, catching Knutsford napping as Stevie Cook stood screaming for Jay Lau to take a quick lineout on Knutsford’s 5-metre line for what seemed like half an hour (but was probably only 5 seconds). Fortunately for him, Knutsford’s defence didn’t catch on either and James Kington hit Jay’s pass at pace to crash over the line for his 2nd try of the game.

Knustford made their first foray into the Bedians half 20 minutes in and elected to kick the points after a silly penalty was given away for coming in at the side, having found no way through a strong defensive line. Another lapse in Bedians discipline, conceding a few penalties in quick succession a few minutes later meant that Knutsford found themselves marching up the pitch and scoring under the posts, with the conversion levelling the score at 10-10. Despite their earlier dominance Bedians now found themselves back to square one.

However, Bedians didn’t let this set them back and after some good hands saw the ball shipped wide, with Vince ‘Pie Thighs’ Betty making a clean break which after some quick ruck ball saw Paul “Pauly Mak, Makinen cross the white line from close range for the next score. After a well taken restart, Bedians made more ground and found themselves in the Knutsford 22 once again, and following a well worked lineout, Phil “Man-of-tape” Parker crashed over after a pop pass from Campbell. Tommo nailed the two conversions to leave Bedians leading 24-10 at half time.

An injury to arguably the world’s lightest winger Gareth “Gasman” Webber (weighing in at a full 4.5 stone – after he’s had his tea) forced a reshuffle at half time with Pauly Mak heading to full back and Shola “Not Ameobi” Kolawole (probably still receiving inspiration from Welshie’s naked “OOOOHH Shola Ameobi! OOOOOHH Shola Ameobi!” chant/dance in the showers at Heaton Moor) coming on to the wing. Mikey “Aussie Mike 2: Back in the Habit” Forgham then making his Rugby Union debut at outside centre.

With a full bench and Pat ‘even chattier Pat’ Willis turning up late, again, Captain Cook was for onceallowedonce allowed the luxury of tactical substitutions and moved Pat into the 2nd row for Will ‘the Doc’ Evans who had formed a formidable partnership with Alvin “Rufio! Rufio! Furio!” Chang at lock for the day, only really to give further options in the lineout. This instantly worked out even better than planned with Pat bagging himself a try with his first touch of the ball and another a few minutes later, giving him a brace for the afternoon (lest we forget).

With the game opening up, Jim ‘the Law’ Bloor was allowed more time on the ball, relishing the opportunity to release his youthful backline. Having spent most of the afternoon running through the smaller Knutsford backs, Tommo decided to display some remarkably light feet for a big man combined with a beauty of reverse flip pass in the tackle. Not to be outdone by his centre partner, Mikey showed it wasn’t just Yorkshiremen who could display such rugby league skills, and after an offload of his own, danced around almost every Knutsford back on his way to the line for his first of two tries – importantly two more than his brother Blake, also making his debut outside him on the wing. A healthy try scoring rivalry which I actively plan to encourage over the season.

With Knutsford suffering a couple of injuries, Cook decided again, in the spirit of the game, to lend Knutsford players, with Jay Lau, Will and Eddie all donning the Knutsford shirt for the 2nd half, in the process allowing Sam Griffiths to swap back onto the Bedes team. Rumour has it that Captain Cook felt so bad about having Sam play for Knutsford for so long that he passed him the ball with 40 yards of open space to run into instead of running it in himself. Well, either that or he realised he was too fat to run that far himself…

Finally, a special mention to both Anthony “Catman” Hargreaves, playing his first game at prop for over a year, and our other rugby league Richard “Tommo” Tomlinson continuing his impressive form with the boot to convert 2 of the 2nd half tries, 4 for the match and leave Bedians to win 48-10 and bag a Man of the Match award for himself. Now Bedes finally have a solid committed squad together there is no reason why we can’t steadily climb up this league table to where we should be.