Blues Take the Tykes

The first twenty minutes or so belonged partly to Bedford and the referee. Bedford started brightly and the Tykes could do little right losing their first line out, and for whatever reason a series of scrums by dint of giving away free kicks immediately the scrum was set. The problems seemed to be on the loosehead side and I assume were for incorrect binding, however the referee seemed to make no effort to discuss what was making him so unhappy.

When Tykes eventually settled down they started to put together some sustained passages of play as the pack rumbled into life and the backs showed they could stretch the Bedford defence. For the next fifteen minutes or so Tykes dominated and added the first try a good forward effort finished off by Phil Nilsen via a maul after camping on the Bedford line. Hinton added a ong range penalty soon after and it was 10-0 to Tykes. Howver Bedford's backs looked dangerous and they soon caught Tykes napping and went over in the left corner 5-10.

The second Tykes try came after some good interplay involving forwards and backs and Tom Rock cutting through mid way between the posts and touch and at15-5 the Tykes looked to have taken a grip on the game and the local crowd was quiet however things changed dramatically as first Rauluni tried to run out of the 22 metre zone rather than kick and his flat pass was snapped up easily by the Bedford centre Allen who ran in under the posts. Add a mangled restart and further pressure on the Tykes and a penalty was conceded. In the space of five minutes Bedford were well back into the game at 15-15.

I thought at half time Tykes would make a switch at scrum half. Clearly Rauluni was not happy with his game as he had fumbled the ball over the Bedford line, threw his intercepted pass, and was robbed at the base of a won scrum by the live wire Bedford number 9. This didn't happen. Is Edwards unfit ?

The second half started with another 20 minute period of inconclusive play marred by injuries to Bedford players. Each team managed to break the others line and press the other back but sound defence prevented further tries.The onlyscore came from a Bedford penalty and it was 18-15 with Tykes trying everything to cut through in the centre but meeting good defence. As the clock ticked on Tykes chance to even it came twice, the first penalty was kicked to the corner and Tykes could not capitalise on it, the second nearer the posts was converted and the game was tied at 18-18.

The stalemate was broken by an amazing drop goal from Humphries. From his own half he tried a speculative long drop which at its highest barely rose above the level of the cross bar - but it kept going and ncredibly the referee gave it and Tykes at last regained the lead at 21-18.

Credit to Bedford however and pressure at the restart and a Tykes error presented them with the ball which they recycled time and time again in the Tykes 22, eventually creating a gap for Pritchard to dive over the line. The conversion was made, the score 25-21 and the home crowd jumped as one and roared as the referee blew the whistle immediately, after about 9 minutes of injury time.

So a second game lost which we could have won, and a great win it would have been too as Bedford are a strong side and not many will get anything on their travels there this season. Good points for Tykes were a sound debut from Nilson at hooker, with Humphries showing as a good loan signing, and Hepworth again proving he can cut a gap in the centre. Also on the plus side we played some great passing rugby to pressure the Bedford line in the last part of the second half. Perhaps we were not helped by captain Lock going off I presume injured late in the game, and thus failing to keep control of a winning position by clear leadership.

Fair play to Bedford though and on balance they deserved to shade it as they looked when under pressure a more complete unit than Tykes with their forwards and backs and the big boot of Broadfoot knocking us back half the length of the pitch when we threatened their line in the second half.

After seven games we now know Tykes are a competitive top 5 team in ND1. We just need to identify that extra edge to take into the games ahead. We also need to remember that today we played without any of last years GP players in the starting 15 and we are at the moment depleted in the backs. If we can get people fit, and cement a pairing at half back we need fear no-one in this league.

Lastly was it me ? I thought we should have played another few minutes injury time in this game. Why don't we have the countdown clock in ND1 ?