Herefordshire | Archive | 2006 | March | 9
From the archive, first published Thursday 9th Mar 2006.
Bedford Athletic 32 pts Luctonians 28
LUCTONIANS' six-match winning streak was ended by an injury-time try by their Bedford hosts, who are challenging for the Powergen Midlands 1 title.
Luctonians were subjected to a torrid opening quarter as the Bedford forwards and backs, assisted by some woeful tackling, played with such pace and power that the visiting defence was shredded.
The sides seemed evenly matched in the opening exchanges but in the 11th minute Bedford prop Nick Winter scattered tacklers as he burst through the middle for flanker Jamie Rudkin to finish the move with a try.
Bedford attacked again from the kick-off and when Luctonians centre Mark Panniers was penalised and yellow carded for killing the ball under the posts. Fly-half Ashley Tapper kicked the goal.
Bedford were breaking Luctonians' defence at will and again straight from the restart scored through centre Phil Elphick who exploited an overlap on the left.
And Bedford were still not done. When Luctonians overthrew at a lineout scrum-half Matt Ireland sniped through to set up Rudkin's second try. Tapper converted and in a 10-minute spell Luctonians had shipped 20 unanswered points and were already mounting a damage limitation exercise.
But to their credit and despite the score, the visitors had lost neither ambition nor composure and when wing Pete Smith was put away on the left only a foot in touch prevented the score.
He made amends in the 30th minute, however, when finishing a Panniers break, rounding his man and cutting inside for a try at the post which fly-half Jeremy Wheadon converted.
The home side hit back when a chip ahead, although covered by defenders, sat up obligingly for the Bedford pursuit and Rudkin notched a try for his hat-trick.
Luctonians reduced the deficit before the break when wing Andy Garrod intercepted a floated Bedford pass and crossed under the posts, Wheadon adding the extra points.
The score lifted Luctonians' spirits and, although trailing by 27-14 at the interval, they had breached Bedford's defence twice and had clawed their way back when earlier a sizeable defeat had seemed the probable outcome.
The North Herefordshire club started the second half with a bang and in the sixth minute a powerful dash by prop Steve Jaques paved the way for centre Ricki Helagi to score near the posts.
Wheadon converted and Luctonians were back in the match with a vengeance. Bedford circled the wagons and until the 35th minute it was stalemate. But Luctonians scored again when Ricki Helagi capitalised on a break by number eight Ramsey Dean and crossed for his second try.
Wheadon's conversion gave them a one-point lead to complete a resurrection of almost biblical proportions.
But there the fairy tale ended as in injury time Bedford again worked an overlap on the left and Elphick scored the winning try for the victory which completed a double as the home club had beaten Luctonians by a two-point margin back in September.
This Saturday it will be Luctonians who will be bidding for a double when they take on Dunstablians at their Mortimer Park headquarters in Kingsland.
Luctonians beat the Bedford-shire club 23-6 in the opening league match of the season.
© Newsquest Media Group 2008