Rayer: 'We made too many errors'

LONDON WELSH 28 BEDFORD BLUES 17


The disappointment of a first defeat of the season was compounded by a second at Old Deer Park.

March 2002 was the last time that Bedford tasted defeat against the Exiles on their turf but they found it tough going against a rejuvenated Welsh side who are enjoying a purple patch of their own after being docked five points before the Championship kicked off.

One point may have been the difference last weekend, but London Welsh broke the Blues resilient defence early on and never looked back.

Two tries from Luke Fielden kept the Blues within touching distance, but they couldn’t keep hold of the ball long enough to make their attacking flair pay.

“We are disappointed especially because we gifted them two tries in the first half,” said director of rugby Mike Rayer after the final whistle.

“Our play was frantic and lacked cohesion but the bottom line is that we made too many errors. We either gifted them possession or passed it straight to them.

“We had large chunks of that game but we made the wrong calls in wrong places on the pitch. We’re not a young side, we have experience and now we have to sit down, watch the DVD and hold our hands up.”

After a relatively slow start, the Exiles had the first chance to take the lead after Bedford were penalised for not releasing the tackle and full back Aled Thomas dispatched the penalty with seeming ease.

You certainly can’t say that Bedford aren’t attack minded and Luke Fielden brought the Blues to life when he spotted the slightest of gaps and made a superb run along the left wing before chipping ahead, but the Welsh defence scurried back and cleared the danger.

Bedford continued to press and set up ruck-after-ruck before a neat – or lucky – Will Chudley cross-field kick fell straight into Fielden’s hands, but the speedster couldn’t find a way around the stubborn Exiles defence.

After more than six hours of rugby without conceding a try the Blues line was finally breached by Paul Sampson. Myles Dorrian appeared to have time for a low kick, but it ricocheted off a Welsh boot and bounced beautifully for scrum half Nick Runciman who played the ball along the line to Sampson and he darted wide of the defence and over with Thomas converting.

It took less than three minutes for the Blues to reply and it was no surprise that Fielden was the scorer. A lineout ball was collected and driven forward before Chudley and Dorrian went down the blind side to play in the winger. Dorrian converted.

The Exiles went straight into Bedford’s 22 and after three scrums their number 8, Tom Brown, appeared to go over but as he did so the ball slipped away from him at the last moment.

The hosts scored their second try in the 33rd minute but once again there was a hint of luck. The Blues were deep in the hosts 22, but as they played the ball along the line Runciman intercepted and kicked on for Errie Claassens to chase. The former Rotherham man beat Chudley in the race and showed good footballing skills to put the ball over the line before diving on it for the score which Thomas converted.

Despite some fine tackles from the likes of Ian Vass and Sacha Harding, the Blues were finding it a tough day at the office and Claasens made another fine break just before halftime, but this time the defence was there and the South African couldn’t find a way through.

Bedford came out for the second half knowing that they had to start taking their chances and Dorrian added an early three points with a sweetly struck penalty.

Unfortunately, three minutes later an infringement at the scrum gave Thomas a chance from in front of the Blues sticks and he made no mistakes with his effort before adding another when Bedford failed to release a tackle.

Dorrian had the opportunity to level the second half scoring, but his effort drifted wide and then things got even worse for the Blues.

Bedford couldn’t keep the ball in hand and as they set a ruck the ball popped out on Welsh’s side and following a storming run by Dominic Shabbo the ball was handed to Claassens for his second try which went unconverted.

Welsh’s Simon Whatling was given a yellow card in the 65th minute after a series of penalties against the Exiles for not releasing the tackle, and with the extra man the ball went along the line to Fielden and he went over for his second and Dorrian converted to make it 28-17.

Despite a number of promising looking attacks it was the only score added with the numerical advantage as the Blues just couldn’t finish anything off against an impressive Welsh defence which held firm for a deserved win.

Scorers

London Welsh: Try; Sampson, Claassens (2) – Con; Thomas (2) – Pen; Thomas (3). Bedford: Try; Fielden (2) – Con; Dorrian (2) – Pen: Dorrian.

Teams. London Welsh: Thomas, Sampson, Shabbo (Starling 71), Whatling, Claassens, Ross, Runciman, Williams, George (Gotting 68), Holford (Ward 67), Corker, Powell (Garvey 78), Mills, Beach (Hills 47), Brown. Not used: Lewis, Mackey.

Bedford: Pritchard (Davey 51), Dodge, Roberts, Vass (Davies 60), Fielden, Dorrian, Chudley (Veenendaal 57), Walsh (Lilley 51), Richmond (Locke 65), Boulton, Tupai, Rae, Harding, Lewitt, Goodman (Harlock 75). Not used: Daynes.