Will Bedford give Leeds the travelling blues?

By Rocky
September 26 2013

My last trip to Bedford was memorable for three reasons, a great win for Leeds, an excellent Tiger roll and a terrible view. Pre-season I invested in a mini-stepladder to give me a better view, sadly pre-arranged plans mean I can't attend but it should be a great game. In its place here is my preview

Since the inception of the Championship the Blues have been consistently placing towards the higher end of the table and coming away from Goldington Road with points is always a challenge. In recent years Bedford have been amongst the leading contenders in the league and, although they have in the past said that they are not keen on promotion they are always there to be the banana skin for other hopefuls.

Date	League					Attendance	Info
14/10/2000	D1	Leeds Tykes	42 - 6	Bedford Blues	Headingley Carnegie	350
10/02/2001	D1	Bedford Blues	3 - 48	Leeds Tykes	Goldington Road	1,225
14/10/2006	NL1	Bedford Blues	25 - 21	Leeds Tykes	Goldington Road	3,049	More
04/02/2007	NL1	Leeds Tykes	31 - 0	Bedford Blues	Headingley Carnegie	2,287	More
09/11/2008	NL1	Leeds Carnegie	19 - 8	Bedford Blues	Headingley Carnegie	3,051	Report
14/03/2009	NL1	Bedford Blues	27 - 24	Leeds Carnegie	Goldington Road	2,955	Report
29/10/2011	CHAMP	Bedford Blues	28 - 45	Leeds Carnegie	Goldington Road	2,763	Report
29/01/2012	CHAMP	Leeds Carnegie	21 - 17	Bedford Blues	Headingley Carnegie	2,514	Report
25/03/2012	CHAMP-PROMB	Leeds Carnegie	24 - 24	Bedford Blues	Headingley Carnegie	1,782	Report
31/03/2012	CHAMP-PROMB	Bedford Blues	26 - 20	Leeds Carnegie	Goldington Road	2,977	Report
Sun 2 Dec	CHAMP	Leeds Carnegie	25 - 45	Bedford Blues	Cross Green	1,564	Report
Sat 13 Apr	CHAMP	Bedford Blues	24 - 33	Leeds Carnegie	Goldington Road	2,649	Report

In terms of the past few years the Bedford team have benefitted from their close relationship with Saracens with the likes of Owen Farrell and Mako Vunipola getting game time with the team. This season the Sarries crop is Sam Stanley, Nick Auterac and Tom Jubb are dual-registered with the side. Other than the Saracens link Bedford did bring in a few players over the summer with the likes of Michael Le Bourgeois (linked with Leeds over the summer) swapping Jersey red for the Bedford Blue. One major loss was Joss Bassett who made the short journey down the road to Wasps.

So far Leeds have had a mixed season after two games, a woeful performance against Nottingham (the Donny curse) and a superb result against the Pirates means the initial pessimism has been replaced by optimism and the challenge from the Blues will be an interesting one. The Blues have had a poor start to the year losing two games on the bounce, the first a 23-14 defeat to a strong London Welsh side followed by a surprising 26-14 defeat to pre-season relegation candidates Jersey.

I am sure the riot act will be read at Goldington Road and they will come out fired up to secure their first win of the season. The atmosphere in the Leeds camp is positive with the aim to back up last week’s performance and to remedy the errors from the match. I can't foresee any major changes, in fact I expect the same starting XV, but there are some concerns in my eyes.

Glynn Hughes is the running fly-half we have wanted for a while but his place kicking has been inconsistent and, in tight games towards the end of the year this will be more concerning. I am sure this will be remedied in time but until then we need to not waste any opportunities.

Having not seen the Pirates game in its entirety I may be corrected but the main issues during the Notts game were handling, securing quick ball from contact and the set piece. Written reviews indicate that most of those appeared to be addressed down in Cornwall but it remains to be seen whether we can get the consistency we frequently lack. We will start to see our injured players returning over the coming months which is key as we do look spartan in a few positions. We will also seem some of the much vaunted talent in our academy coming through and getting the game time they require to progress (to Northampton!).

So, what do I think will happen. Well the weather forecast for Saturday is going to be ~18oC and showers are expected. I hope that our bright yellow kit will shine through the gloom and the lads will deliver a win, it won't be a big win, but I expect a 4 point win for Leeds. Any showers will put pressure on our handling, so our tactics will have to be spot on. A good performance from the pack is required to give our exciting backline the ball under as little pressure as possible and hopefully we’ll see fireworks from the likes of Doc, Goss, Holmes, Griffin and Lozowski if they are given the space they need to make an impact on the game. The older players like Nilsen, Myerscough, Buzz and Rowan will be key to this and our decision making has to be impeccable (take the points!).

To those travelling down wear your platform shoes, have a safe journey down and enjoy the game. If you arrive early why not check out the Cricketers Arms who have a couple of great beers on at the moment (Oakham Ales - JHB, Adnams - Southwold Bitter)……don’t forget the pork tiger roll for sustenance (with ALL the trimmings!).