By Frank Stormont
January 7 2007

Albion take all 5 points from the wet match at Brickfields to more second in the table ahead of the clash with Leeds next Sunday.  

Plymouth Albion 22

Bedford Blues 8

Albion's biggest gate of the season were not disappointed although the weather effected the match the 3827 crowd were treated to an entertaining day out even in the rain as Albion romped home for a 22 - 8 win over the Bedford Blues.

With players out with injury the new starting line-up that saw Arran Cruickshanks start in the centre and Brett Stroud at number 4 had no problems with the Blues.  Apart from a mistake in the first half that allowed Bedford scrum half  Adam Kettle take advantage of the gap and run in for the corner Albion were always in control of the match and took the bonus point with 2 tries for Martin Rice, and one a piece for Tom Arscott and  Nic Sestaret.

Kicking was to say the least difficult.  All the practice before the kick off was to no avail and 100% before the match does not give you points on the board. The duties were shared between Regardt and Ed Barnes but the blustery wind kept all but one attempt out. 

With the touchline having to be remarked on the stand side before the match could be started the crowd new it was going to be a sticky match.

The opening 15 minutes of the match were fairly even until Nat Saumi picked up the ball on the Bedford 10 metre line and broke through the Bedford defence and passing to Tom Arscott on the 22 to allow him to go across in the corner for a Tom Arscott diving try.

With Albion continuing to get more and more of the game ball and on 30 minutes when Albion drove the maul from 30 metres out to within a metre of the line before being pulled and pushed into touch. The maul had already been pulled down and the Bedford hooker was sent to the bin for ten minutes. 

With the next play of the game Abion again used their power advantage in  the forwards to cross the line with the hands of Martin Rice getting his 4th try of the season.

When Albion were penalised for not rolling away former Albion player and top scorer in his season at Albion kicked his only points of the match from the 22 and just left of the posts. 10-3

With an opportunity 30 metres out in front of the posts at the other end was not successful under the difficult conditions.

 In the 37th minute Bedford scrum ceased the opportunity with a mistake off the back of an Albion maul and ran un opposed the 25 metres to the corner to bring them within two points of the hosts. The conversion was not kicked by the player that used to call Brickfields his home.

The teams were even in the first half but Albion had extra power in the forwards and generally a far better defence. With only two points between the teams it was going to be a tough game to win for either side and the memories of matches earlier in the season where Albion were not playing so well in the second half were concerning me.

Albion came out from the changing rooms with fresh jerseys on and what appeared to be fresh motivation. as they dominated the next 30 minutes.

Within 5 minutes of the restart Albion used their catch and drive move and after a number of pushes went over the line to bring up a Martin Rice's 5th try of the season.

Bedford's defence stepped up to the mark and even when Albion put 11 players into the maul they were unable to ground the ball as the maul crossed the try line.

15 minutes in Bedford are shown their 2nd yellow, Albion seem to consider taking a tap penalty 8 metres out but Ed Barnes is asked to take the kick for points from in front of the posts which was not converted. 

Nic Sestaret scores his 16th try of the match  after he entered the line and broke through the Bedford defence with Ed Barnes making the only kick of the match for Albion to bring the score to 22 - 8.

Although Bedford did step up during the last 10 minutes of the match they failed to make any real progress or to reduce the gap.

Albion remain the best defensive team in the league and have the best point difference and are the only side to have 100% home performance. With this win they have not lost at home in over a year now.

With Leeds being on the loosing side at Rotherham and Doncaster picking up the bonus point at Waterloo Albion move into second place with just one point covering the top three places. making the Leeds/Albion clash at Headingley next Sunday very interesting. 

By the way due to a late drop out there is two spare places on the coach going up on Saturday and a twin room in the hotel please contact Keith Colpitts urgently if you would like to take advantage.

Attendance 3827

Team: Nat Saumi, Tom Arscott, Regardt van Eyk, Arran Cruickshanks, Nic Sestaret, Ed Barnes, Ed Lewsey, Martin Rice, Richard Oxley, Scott Zimmerman, Brett Stroud, Tom Hayes, Federico Genoud, Danny Thomas, Chris Lowrie Replacements: David Delaney, Nigel Cane, Tim Mathias(used), James Owen, Francisco Deformes(used), Bryn Jenkins, Sila Va'Enuku

Scorers :- Tries 2x Martin Rice, Nic Sestaret, Tom Arscott Conversions Ed Barnes