RUGBY: Bristol edge out Blues
100 per cent record disappears
The Championship
Bedford Blues 5 Bristol 6
Bedford Blues missed a gilt-edged opportunity to preserve their 100 per cent record in The Championship as they succumbed 6-5 to Bristol at Goldington Road.
James Pritchard was the villain of the piece for the Blues, the full-back missing two very-kickable penalties in the final few minutes to let Bristol off the hook.
Victory would have been no more then the hosts deserved after their contribution to an intriguing encounter that was dominated by the respective defences.
Their were little in the way of try-scoring chances at either end and the decisive factor proved to be the goal kicking, Pritchard missing all four of his efforts and Adrian Jarvis successfully converting two of his three.
In front of an excellent 4,067-strong crowd, the hosts had the better of the opening stages, but missed the chance to take an early lead when Pritchard pushed a fifth minute penalty attempt wide.
The Blues were looking sharp behind the scrum and it wasn't until the 17th minute that Bristol managed to reach the home 22.
A minute later, Jarvis opened the scoring with a simple penalty as Bristol began to find their feet.
The play, which wasn't helped by the whistle-happy referee Greg Garner, was very stop-start with fluency hard to come by.
After a Jarvis break came to nothing, the Blues threatened courtesy of Ollie Dodge who made inroads down the left, but as the ball was worked to the right side, a turnover relieved the pressure.
Jack Adams then knocked-on with a promising overlap beckoning, a mistake emulated by his midfield partner Luke Eves who dropped the ball in a central position 25 yards out.
Miles Dorrian then copied his counterparts by spilling a Luke Fielden pass with acres of space in front of him.
Defensively, the Blues were in superb form, but they went further behind three minutes into added time when Jarvis notched his second penalty after the scrum had been dragged down.
Needing a quick score after the interval, the Blues obliged with an excellent effort.
Dorrian made a clean break and fed Prictchard who in turn passed to the supporting Fielden who crossed wide on the right.
Pritchard's conversion attempt was wide and a minute later Jarvis somehow contrived to squander a penalty attempt from right in front of the posts and just 20 yards out.
Paul Tupai then knocked on with the line at his mercy and at the other end, Lee Robinson was denied a try when a forward pass was called.
The game was following a similar pattern to the first half with Bedford having the better of the early minutes and the visitors responding.
It was still nip and tuck as the final 10 minutes arrived with neither side able to take the initiative.
Dan Norton was stopped in his tracks by a good Dodge tackle while the Blues continued to let themselves down with poor handling.
Despite that, the home side were in the ascendancy and their chance to go in front came in the 75th minute.
A pulled down scrum gave Pritchard a penalty chance which was pulled wide and after they regained possession, Dorrian set himself well for a drop-goal, but his effort missed narrowly.
The game looked to have gone only for Bristol, who should've really kicked for territory, to stray offside 38 metres from the posts in the centre of the field.
The stage was set for Pritchard to be the match-winner, but his accuracy let him down again and his kick drifted off target, with it
went the chance of a snatched victory.
BLUES: Pritchard, Dodge, Burke (Fielden 19), Vass, Davey, Dorrian, Chudley, Walsh (Lilley 58), Richmond (Locke 63), Boulton, Tupai (Spencer 71), Rae, Harding, Lewitt, Goodman.
Subs: Harlock, Veenendaal, Davies.
Attendance: 4,067
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Weather for Biggleswade
Thursday 17 May 2012
Today
Cloudy
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