Today’s Opponents Bedford Blues

Bedford Blues - The Season Thus Far

Bedford Blues head to Paton Field this afternoon desperate to pick up the points which will likely see Mike Rayer’s side jump up to third in the Championship table ahead of the upcoming Cup block. With Coventry facing the difficult task of heading to Ealing Trailfinders this afternoon, Blues – who are just one point behind – will be looking to take advantage of any slip-ups ahead of the final run-in to the end of the campaign.

They head north in a rich vein of form following three successive victories; which kicked off in-front of a 5,000 sell-out at Goldington Road on Boxing Day with a huge derby day victory against rivals, Ampthill. Thumping victories over London Scottish (34-13) and Cornish Pirates (55-13) have since followed.

Within their ranks, they currently possess the Championship’s leading marksman, Will Maisey and perennial try scorer Dean Adamson who is looking to break into the top five of Blues’ all-time try scorers, currently joint with Alan Towersey on 112.

Bedford are the second highest scorers in the Championship this season, adding 421 points from 13 games (at an average of 32.4 per fixture) and only trail Ealing Trailfinders in that statistic who are well out in-front with 525.

They have managed to sure up their defence in recent weeks, conceding just four tries in the last three games, but are still right up there in this statistic as well with the third leakiest defence this term conceding 377 points.

Today’s game will be the first visit to Paton Field for a competitive fixture and follows the first ever meeting between the two sides on October 1st 2022 which saw Bedford run out 52-29 winners on Ladies Day at Goldington Road.

The only other time Blues have headed this way was for a Junior 7s tournament during the times they had an Academy system.