Under 14s - Bedford Blues vs. Hitchin

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On a cold, austere but sunny February morning we stepped up for what could have been our toughest challenge of the year.

Bedford has an awesome reputation throughout the leagues for their scale and development of rugby in the region. They always put out a good team no matter what. This team was no exception. Big and bold and most certainly the best forwards we have played against. We met the pack, who does what we do, as well as we do, and they are big too!

Straight from the kick off they put us straight under pressure and through a combination of winning scrums and lineout quickly they won an attacking scrum close to our line, which was picked up at number 8 and driven over for the opening try and conversion within a few minutes.

Even from the re start they bore down on us and managed to apply pressure again through set plays to create an opening for the winger on the blindside to make the score 12-0 within the first ten minutes.

Thankfully common sense and good organisation helped collect and compose our boys and we did indeed push them back and for a greater part applied good pressure for some time deep in their 22. However they were a good team and quickly converted our pressure into counter attack and moved their way forward through the phases to drive over for a close range forward try. A bit more of the same from our kick off gave them the upper hand again, with another try to give them a 24-0 lead at half time.

Now one of the things most admired by the old farts on the touchline this year is your commitment to not rolling over. With the wind behind us we made a great start to the 2nd half and immediately put Bedford under pressure, we kept them in their 22 and created a great move with a crash ball for Kieran C running the straight line from full back. From the breakdown we won a scrum 10 m from their line and continued to put them under pressure at the line and scrum, however they were the kings of counter attack and managed in only 5 phases to score their only try of the second half.

The final 20 minutes was ours and we should take some comfort in thwarting a very good team who thought they were going to run through us and score 60 points. We kept our shape; everyone made a contribution (we used all our subs and more) and did not lie down. We still need to aim for the knees when we tackle, trust me lads it hurts less when to you tackle low, the big lads go down quicker and get up slower and you are less likely to get a smack on the kisser!

We got close a few times but they defended well against some varied and talented running from us. If there was a word to describe the difference it was aggression! We love it when you all smile at us and tell us stories, but can you save it to the club house and stop being nice to them?