Rae hails Blues super defensive showing

THE Scottish revival was stopped dead in its tracks by a physical Bedford side forged on a dominant first half.

Scottish saw off Jersey last week but Blues, having performed defensive heroics against London Irish, continued that form, galloping ahead 23-7 by half-time.

They ran in five tries to Scottish’s three and playercoach Alex Rae said: “The quality of our defensive sets was massive and it built the foundations of victory. Credit to the players for their resilience and ability to work for each other.”

Scottish started poorly and were punished in the second minute after conceding successive penalties which gave Bedford prime position close to the line.

The pack provided the initial momentum before the ball was swept left with wing Ryan Hutler squeezing in at the corner.

Lewis Robling fired Bedford further ahead with a penalty, although he was forced off injured on 26 minutes and replaced by former Scottish player, Jake Sharp, who returned to torment his old side.

Scottish continued to ratchet up the pressure but they were repeatedly thwarted by the quality of the Bedford defence, which suffocated the attacking ambitions of the hosts.

Wasteful at times, Scottish did eventually break through after Rory Jennings’ penalty hit the post, but Matt Eliet followed up to break through.

Blues hit back with a successful Sharp penalty and a lightning counter-attack well executed by winger Dean Adamson. They increased their half-time lead when Scottish bungled a lineout close to their own line and Huw Worthington scored.

Scottish came out firing and although they went close via a sparkling Bobby Beattie run, they were reduced to 14 after the winger was sin-binned for a deliberate knock-on.

Bedford also incurred the wrath of referee Sara Cox, with prop Sean McCarthy seeing yellow for playing a man without the ball. However, it failed to stop the Bedford flow and they forged further away after Sharp intercepted deep in his own half and set up Adamson.

Sharp was also at the heart of Bedford’s fifth try as he broke behind the defence before off-loading to Matt Worley. Scottish kept fighting and Miles Mantella was the beneficiary of Jennings’ neat grubber kick.

Scottish hooker Billy Harding said: “We made it easy for them in the firsthalf. We didn’t play to our shape and our work rate wasn’t all it should have been. However, we eventually scored some good tries.”