Blues prove that defence matches their attack

RICH Lane’s try settled this quarter final Bedford’s way after the hosts managed to absorb everything Ulster A could throw at them at Goldington Road.

Scoring may have been at a premium, unlike most games involving the Blues this season, but don’t mistake that for a lack of action, as both teams hammered into each other.

Having tackled themselves into the ground in defending their lead, it’s Bedford who go into the semi-finals and keep alive their hopes of becoming the B&I Cup’s last-ever winners.

Bedford No.8 Jarad Williams said: “We felt we should have been in front at half-time, really, but in that second half we had no ball, got the one try on the board, which turned out to be enough.

“We pride ourselves on our attack, but we want to be up there with the best with our ‘D’ and we knew we’d keep having to make those hits at the end. We managed to do that and got a great result.”

Will Hooley kicked the first points for Bedford with a well-struck penalty and the hosts then came close to the first try when David Shanahan did just enough to halt Williams metres from the line.

Ulster then survived a spell of pressure before striking through a pushover try for hooker Adam McBurney after 25 minutes that was converted by Peter Nelson.

The Blues pulled back three points through a simple Hooley penalty before the fly-half briefly gave his side the lead, only for a kick from Nelson to put Ulster 10-9 ahead at half-time.

But Bedford hit back again eight minutes into the second half when Williams put Lane into space and the full-back sidestepped his would-be tackler to score in the corner, with Hooley converting.

The match continued to be a tight affair, with Ulster winger Aaron Cairns slipping at the vital moment after being found in space on the left.

Angus Curtis was then agonisingly held up over the line for the visitors before Bedford’s Howard Packman was sin-binned in the closing stages, but his teammates held out heroically.

Ulster coach Kieran Campbell said: “Today we just didn’t quite get there but that’s not through a lack of effort.

“A lot of the guys stood up today in a challenging environment and fair dues to Bedford, they were definitely rejuvenated after half-time and played decent rugby.”