Knights gain revenge with nail-biting victory


Bedford Blues 14 (14) Doncaster Knights 16 (10)


A agonising injury-time penalty miss from James Pritchard condemned Bedford to only their second home defeat of the season against high-flying Doncaster Knights.

In a game blighted by sin-binnings, Bedford played some exciting rugby and had their noses in front for over an hour, but in stark contrast to last year it was the visitors who snatched victory in the dying moments.

Director of rugby Mike Rayer said: "We are disappointed with the result and rightly so. It wasn't a great performance by us today.

"Part of that was Doncaster's defence and part poor execution by us. They came here with a game plan and took the the points.

"Tactically we got it wrong. We win as a team and lose as a team. We've got to take it on the chin and move on to next week.

"There's no use crying over spilt milk. If you don't get the points on the board you don't tend to win these close matches."

Mr Rayer kept faith with the bulk of the side that did so well to destroy Moseley the week before, leaving experienced campaigners Matt Volland, Jon Phillips and Matt Allen on the bench.

And Doncaster were given an early chance when Bedford's forwards were penalised for playing the ball on the floor. And Mark Woodrow made no mistake, slotting the ball over on four minutes to give the Knights a three-point lead.

But Bedford were quick to respond. With their handling looking good Alex Page's pass saw Tom Youngs burst through and only a great tackle felled him just short of the line. Bedford kept the pressure up and were awarded a penalty, a chance Pritchard gleefully accepted to level the scores.

Looking bright and full of vigour and ideas Bedford continued to take the game to the Knights. Ben Pastston's brilliant kick moved Blues to the brink of Doncaster's line and, although Bedford's catch-and-drive move was easily halted by the visitors they could not hold out for long and gave away another penalty. This was followed by an unseemly melee with all the players on both sides piling in, and resulted in a yellow card for David Griffiths. And Pritchard made no mistake with the penalty, moving the Blues into the lead for the first time.

Doncaster were struggling to cope with the impressive Youngs and, when Tom Luke tried to hold him down after the ball had gone, Youngs lashed out to get free and both players were sent to the bin

Bedford were playing with plenty of gusto and pancahe and thoroughly deserved the game's first try. Patston's big up-and-under on 20 minutes was fumbled by under-pressure winger Wes Davies. Patston was first to react and Nic Strauss and Craig Moir combined to put Arthur Brenton in at the corner. Pritchard, however, was off-target for the first time.

With both sides back up to full strength Doncaster began to battle their way back into proceedings. It all started to go wrong for the Blues when Mouritz Botha was yellow-carded with seven minutes of the half left, and then Paul Bailey picked up what looked like a forward pass and rounded Nic Strauss to score at the corner. Woodrow then produced a phenomenal touchline conversion to bring the visitors within a point.

There the rot stopped though. Bedford rallied and, when Brenton was blatantly pulled down at a lineout on 38 minutes, Pritchard too full advantage to make it 14-10 with his kick.

Still down to 14 men, Bedford almost got their second try in injury time. Dickson and Page both made thrusting runs down the left, but the Blues winger was stopped just short of the line as the hosts went in with a narrow lead at the break.

Doncaster grabbed a vice-like grip on the game after half-time, winning penalty after penalty and persistently kicking to the corners as they looked to utilise their burly forwards. Unable to cross the whitewash they turned to Woodrow, whose 52nd-minute kick again brought Doncaster to within a point of their hosts.

Having been under the cosh for so long the introduction of veteran forwards Volland and Phillips helped breath new life into the dormant Blues. Great breaks by Youngs and Dickson put big holes in Doncaster's defence, but when the host did eventually give away a penalty, Pritchard was disappointingly off the mark.

Turbo-charged Blues proceeded to play some scintillating rugby as they dented Doncaster's defence at every opportunity. And Patston almost provided the hosts with just the tonic they needed when another one of his sky-scraping kicks was fumbled on 62 minutes. The Bedford fly-half was quickest on to the loose ball but, as he careered for the corner, an excellent tackle forced him into touch with the line begging.

The game began to see-aw, with both sides desperately trying to wrench control of the game. And as the game reached a crescendo finish Woodrow's 77th-minute penalty edged Knights into the lead.

Deep into injury-time Pritchard was handed the chance to atone for his earlier earlier miss and, despite a roar from the crowd, his kick drifted wide, as Doncaster gained revenge for last year's nail-biting defeat.

Blues: Marco Cecere (Matt Volland 57), Dan Richmond (C ), Dan Cole, Mouritz Botha, Arthur Brenton (Jon Phillips 57), Nic Strauss, Sacha Harding, Rory McKay (Ben Pienaar 65), Karl Dickson, Ben Patston, Alex Page, Tom Youngs (Matt Allen 80), Brendan Burke, Craig Moir, James Pritchard. Replacements not used: Greg Sammons, Jon Elrick, Liam Roberts. T: Brenton. P: Pritchard 3.

Knights: Tom Davies, Steve Boden, Ngalu Tau (Jon Rawson 61), David Griffiths, Glen Kenworthy, Scott Gray, Simon Grainger, Glen Wilson (Chris Planchant 69), Ben Jones, Mark Woodrow, Donovan Van Duuren, Tom Luke, Brad Hunt, Wes Davies, Anthony Carter (Paul Bailey 8). Replacements not used: Richard List, Oliver Cook, David Scully. Mark Soden. T: Bailey. C: Woodrow. P: Woodrow 2.

Referee: Llyr Apgeraint Roberts.

Touch judges: Terry Hall and Nick Clarke.

Attendance: 2,549.

This article was posted on 19-Nov-2007, 19:27 by Hugh Barrow.