Travelling Tykes aim to beat the Blues

By Rocky the Tyke
November 5 2015

Saturday 7th November – Bedford Blues vs. Yorkshire Carnegie @ Goldington Road (MK40 3NF). Kick off at 3PM.

Pos,	Team	Played	won	Draw	Lost	For	Agst	Diff.	Points
1	Bristol	8	7	0	1	270	174	96	34
2	Yorkshire Carnegie	8	6	0	2	273	190	83	32
3	Doncaster Knights	8	5	0	3	213	187	26	26
4	Bedford Blues	8	5	0	3	227	211	16	25
5	Rotherham Titans	8	5	0	3	200	207	-7	22

Last season was one to be forgotten for both the Tykes and Bedford, both sides typically expect to be in the mix at the end of the season but both under delivered. Whilst Carnegie just missed out on the playoff’s after resurgence under Brush Bedford were left languishing in 10th. Although relegation wasn’t a threat the typically strong Bedford team were on a downward slope (no comments about the Goldington Road pitch please).

This season both teams are performing more like you would expect, Carnegie are sitting in second in the table behind Bristol with 6 wins from 8 games and are currently top of the table in terms of points scored. The Blues are 7 points behind us and sit in 4th sandwiched between our fellow Yorkshire sides Doncaster (3rd) and Rotherham (5th).

Following a week’s break both teams should be fresh and ready to hit the ground running, though their last matches couldn’t have been more different. Carnegie cruised to a 52-19 win over Moseley without ever hitting their straps properly, it was however great to see the backs cutting an opposition open with Jonah crossing for 4 of our 8 tries. Bedford however had a very tight game against basement side Ealing and came away squeaking a narrow 23-21 win thanks to a last minute Steffan Jones penalty.

What do I expect from this game, well firstly the weather looks like it will be pretty poor so I don’t expect this to be a flowing game of running rugby. It will be wet and the pitch will be heavy, I thus expect our forward game to be our ‘route 1’. With this in mind set piece is going to be key so all of the focus will be on securing our own ball and getting out kicking from hand sorted. This last point is even more important considering the slope at Bedford and we have to make this work in our favour. Kicking from the tee has been improving through the season but open play kicking has been pretty lacklustre, I’d imaging Leonard will get the nod as he is a little more composed at the moment. I would pair him with Dudman who shone in the last game, the threat from the base of rucks will hopefully keep Bedford on their toes. I am not sure if our U20’s are back but if they are I’d expect them to be in the mix or a squad place.

Brush’s squad rotation policy has worked well this year so I imagine we will see some more changes but I feel that the side that makes the least errors will come out on top. With the weather being wet handling will be key so I would think that we will probably opt for some of our more physical centres and be combative at the breakdown.

For Bedford there will be a few names the Carnegie faithful will be familiar with. Firstly you have James Currie who moved down the A1M from Leeds in 2014, a solid prop with a lot of experience will have a point to prove (as all ex-players do). Players like Jake Sharp, James Pritchard and Ollie Dodge have all been thorns in the Tykes side over the past few years whilst utility back (primarily fly half) Mike Le Bourgeois was linked with a move from Jersey to Yorkshire before switching to Bedford.

So what do I think will happen, its always difficult to call a game against Bedford but I think the travelling Tykes will win. If it is as damp as it seems I think it will be a gritty, tight game but I would say an 8 point win for Yorkshire to send them and their support back up north with a smile.

Safe journey down to all and see you there……don’t forget a stepladder if you want to see!

@RockyTheTyke

Travelling Tykes aim to beat the Blues

Posted by: TykesRugby.co.uk (IP Logged)

Date: 05/11/2015 06:13

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Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2015:11:24:07:07:31 by Wildwillie .